Lindsay has also successfully run her own business, growing it from one to sixty clients and ultimately selling out to a larger competitor. Lindsay manages the Alchemy Consultancy business working with small to medium sized enterprises looking to attain business and financial success.

The solutions he provides are based on a solid foundation and experience of delivering projects and change by effectively converting theory into practice to execute and deliver strategic objectives.

Chris is an Accredited Change Agent and has worked closely with executive teams in developing and managing Balanced Scorecards and Organisational Alignment. He holds a MBA and a BSC (Hons) in Engineering Product Design.

Change management (or change control) is the process during which the changes of a system are implemented in a controlled manner by following a pre-defined framework/model with, to some extent, reasonable modifications.

In project management, change management refers to a project management process where changes to a project are formally introduced and approved. The field of change management grew from the recognition that organizations are composed of people and the behaviours of people make up the outputs of an organization.

Types of Organizational Change

• Strategic changes
• Technological changes
• Structural changes
• Changing the attitudes and behaviors of personnel

As a multidisciplinary practice, Organizational Change Management requires for example: creative marketing to enable communication between change audiences, but also deep social understanding about leadership’ styles and group dynamics.

As a visible track on transformation projects, Organizational Change Management aligns groups’ expectations, communicates, integrates teams and manages people training. It make use of metrics, such as leader’s commitment, communication effectiveness, and the perceived need for change to design accurate strategies, in order to avoid change failures or solve troubled change projects.

An effective change management plan needs to address all above mentioned dimensions of change. This can be achieved in following ways:

• Putting in place an effective Communication strategy which would bridge any gap in the understanding of change benefits and its implementation strategy.
• Devise an effective skill upgradation scheme for the organization. Overall these measures can counter resistance from the employees of companies and align them to overall strategic direction of the organization.
• Personnel counselling of staff members (if required) to alleviate any change related fears.

Safety and Management Solutions Ltd (SAMS) started as a hobby business with ambitions to grow. We were invited in to conduct a review of the business. This included the following steps:

· Analyse the industry

· Identify the threats and opportunities for the company

· Set a vision and mission statement

· Set high level targets

· Create a strategy and performance measurements

We then met with all the staff to talk them through the mission statement and targets, ensuring that everyone in the organisation knew clearly what was expected of them – and what the overall company goals were.

Since our initial three-month consultation, the business has grown substantially. SAMS have taken on more staff and moved into new premises. The key to our success in this case was to stretch the company’s ambition and provide it with a means to develop their business.

We approach every business individually because every business is different.

Understanding the basics

In the first instance, we sat down with the owner to understand the basics, like her incomings and outgoings. We discovered that she had a high customer churn – she was losing existing customers but gaining new ones. At the end of every month, although she had the same number of customers that she started with, she was unable to tell who was new or why she had lost certain clients.

We did some analysis on her customer numbers using her existing systems and we were able to pinpoint some reasons for the client turnover. We identified a high level of competition in the area, with rival hairdressers targeting customers with special offers. Although our client was also making special offers each month she was not targeting her existing customers with those offers. We were able to recommend a strategy to start upselling to her existing client base, meaning that she was able to hold on to customers from one month to the next.

Performance management

At the same time, we analysed staff efficiencies to find out who was meeting targets and introduced some simple performance management processes. For instance, we improved the meet and greet procedures at the front of house, using trainees to present a certain image to customers. This improved the overall customer experience and gave the trainees some valuable educational opportunities.

The results

Within four months, we turned a business that was losing money every month into one that is now in profit. The key learning points are:

• Focus on key areas to turn around a business quickly and simply

• Get the structure of the business right before looking for new customers

• Once the business is stabilised, you can start looking to expand your client base.

As with all our clients, we have built a relationship with Serene Hair and Beauty and regularly revisit them to review their progress.

• Culture
• Internal processes

These drive:

• Customer perception
• Financial performance

These four perspectives are linked: good internal processes, such as training, will improve customer perceptions and therefore improve financial performance.

This approach allows us to identify weaknesses in business via key performance indicators and by setting clear objectives in those areas.