Ban Weston, Managing Director “To influence effective change in any organization, simplicity and consistency is key. Developing a clear and simple inspirational message about your vision and mission creates the right framework for the organization to bring in the necessary change management culture,” says Ban Weston, Managing Director of wm consulting.
According to Ban, the critical factor is to give people context and create an environment in which employees can develop and grow. “Make sure employees understand their role in implementing the change and are fully on board. Win employees’ hearts by communicating the vision and strategy for change `relentlessly,’ using every reliable channel,” states Ban.
Australia-based wm consulting, a leader in leadership and organizational development practice, effectively tackles the complex scenarios brought forth by change through its comprehensive range of consulting services. The company primarily focuses on mobilizing and transforming the culture of businesses and specializes in leadership and talent development, corporate coaching, organizational development, and cultural transformation to help organizations accomplish a successful business transformation.
Ban notes that although it’s important to engage employees at every level early on, all successful change management initiatives start at the top, with a committed and well-aligned group of executives strongly supported by the CEO. wm consulting’s services establish a solid foundation for leaders to develop positive behavior toward implementing, managing, and embracing change. At the onset of each new project, wm engages in a strategic business analysis where they interview individuals in the executive team and the next layer of leaders. The data attained from this analysis enables wm consulting to get an understanding of how the leaders are perceived and how effective they are in driving a high performing work culture to spur meaningful change.
“We also provide a 360-degree analysis of the executive team and next level leaders through credible self-awareness behavioral profiling tools such as LSI,” adds Ban.
Successful change management is all about empowering the leadership to communicate the change to the workforce throughout the organization confidently
This tool provides insights into individual and team styles of leadership. The data obtained from meaningful and tough discussions with leaders lead to a coherent vision and plan for change.
Another significant offering by wm consulting is its customized capability development framework.
With change, organizations need to be very clear about the shift in the focus and behaviors. This is one of the most critical steps of any change initiative, ensuring that people’s daily behaviors reflect the imperative of change. “Start by defining a few critical behaviors that is required for success, then conduct everyday business with those behaviors relentlessly,” explains Ban. “Senior leaders must visibly model these new behaviors themselves, right from the start because employees will believe real change is occurring only when they see it happening at the top of the organization.”
The firm has also developed various coaching and leadership programs to equip leaders with the needed confidence and effective communication/coaching skills to hold rigorous conversations with their teams to enforce the change.
Elaborating on their unparalleled change management capabilities, Ban recalls an example where a client struggling with a dysfunctional work environment that was negatively impacting their business, approached wm consulting for assistance. wm consulting assessed the client’s current business and leadership styles to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and behaviors. Subsequently, wm consulting started one-on-one coaching, change management, and leadership programs to enable leaders to drive the workforce through the change. wm consulting even developed a personalized capability framework to support high-performance activities across various business roles for the client. In just 18 months, the client witnessed fundamental shifts in their productivity and performance. “Employees were ambitious in attaining the organization’s business goals. Their success was publicly celebrated that further boosted their attitude toward supporting change,” states Ban.
As for the future, wm consulting aspires to continue on its journey of inspiring leaders to manage and support change in their organizations. On the cards are geographical expansions as well as new technologies and strategies to supplement its current services portfolio.
