Atkins: Managing Culture Change

Equality Works were commissioned to support this large company through a period of change which required many new ways of working, and therefore a fundamental change in the organisational culture. 

The change programme began three years ago, and at that point involved working with senior and middle managers on high level visioning and strategic processes. We then designed and delivered short and intensive programmes for senior managers called Managing Change; coached managers and delivered team-building workshops with the CEO and the SMT; worked with the Strategic Working Group to set and achieve long-term objectives; and perhaps the most significant single element, strengthened the performance management culture. 

Our role in the first six months involved close working with the managers to:

• Assist them to lead their teams effectively, and this required different levels of work with different managers;
• Ensure that the communications plan really worked, and this involved a great deal more work, and skills, than the managers were expecting;
• Ensure they had a sounding board;
• Provide an ‘at elbow service’ through the most challenging moments; and

• Focus on improving the ability of managers to performance manage staff more effectively, by making the new standards clear, and ‘nipping things in the bud’. 

The outcomes were

• A new performance management culture – regular and documented 1:1 sessions between managers and staff increased from 59% to 94% in six months;
• Explicit targets and standards which everyone understood - financial and managerial and in relation to day to day behaviour, and a measurable improvement in client satisfaction and profit; and

• A rewards system which was transparent, simple and motivating. 

As part of this overall programme of culture change, Equality Works then went on to design and deliver a rolling development programme to middle managers which covered the following areas:

• Performance management;
• Project management;
• Line management; and
• Cross-functional working.

The evaluation of the programme by the delegates demonstrated:

• Better understanding of the decision-making process;
• Better grasp of strategic as opposed to operational management;
• More confidence in management skills and decision-making;
• Improved influencing skills in terms of managing change with staff.

The Deputy Chief Executive of the company observed that the overall aim of this project would be to ensure the smooth transition into one contracting business, involving the merging of two groups of very different staff from two different companies. 

It will involve:

• A diagnostic phase to ensure sufficient understanding of the operating environment, the cultural differences, and likely points of tension, resistance, and dynamism; 
• An assessment of current skills sets that would identify strengths and areas for development to ensure the smooth transition, in liaison with Human Resources specialists and managers; 
• Coaching of some key individuals and groups of individuals to ensure there is a level of consistency around the communications of the change management process and the required standards of behaviour; 
• Facilitated events to ensure the ‘new world’ is understood by everyone and that staff have opportunities of being properly engaged with how they will contribute to it; 
• Regular communications with Steve Hall and other managers to monitor progress of the project.
• To ensure sufficient familiarisation with the internal and external environment of the business.