When creating a brand new team of internal consultants from both across the business and externally, how do you ensure consistent processes and skill levels, at the same time as engendering common goals and sense of purpose? This case study shows how a modular approach to change and internal consultancy training also helped form a sense of common purpose and identity. This was the situation facing HBS, a leading supplier of business process solutions to the UK public and private sectors. Operating since the late 1990's, HBS has around 3,500 staff at sites across the UK and has Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) with a number of leading local authorities including: Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes. HBS has, in the past four years, already invested more than £150 million in local government and more than 2,500 people have transferred to HBS from local authorities. To manage the increasing level of change both within the PPPs and the organisation generally, HBS decided to set up a central team of internal consultants. The new team incorporated a range of skills and knowledge, including:

1. Internal recruits with lots of company knowledge and the basic, but no formal training on change processes or models
2. External recruits who had their own tools and techniques for implementing change, but little or no knowledge of the organisation's own procedures and objectives?
3. IT specialists from one of their contracts, with council, project and IT knowledge, but without a consistent understanding of change management or their new organisation's ways of working

And that is when they called upon Pearlcatchers to design and run a development programme that would provide the entire team with the necessary skills and tools to effectively manage change within the business. Whilst the core objective related to skills transfer, it quickly became apparent that there was an underlying need to agree a common language, purpose and way of working and to break down silos between some of the different areas and projects.

To both minimise the impact on day to day working and to embed learning at stage, the programme was planned as a series of two-day modules, once a month for four months.
The first day of each module focussed in turn on each of the phases within the Cycle of Change - Pearlcatchers model for effective change management. The second dealt with the specific skills and / or knowledge required by effective internal consultants.

The overall format of the programme drew strongly from their Certificate in Organisational Change, but the content was tailored to the specific needs of the HBS team by focussing on those skills and stages that were most relevant to their roles.

The first module set the foundations for the entire programme by considering the fundamentals of change and why transformation efforts fail and introduced delegates to the first phase of the Cycle of Change - Recognising the Opportunity. Day two focussed on the skills and processes and roles of effective consultants - something that was quite new for many of the delegates and proved very helpful for some of them who commenced new projects during the programme in setting boundaries and scope.

The second module dealt with Phase 2 - Building Support for Change dealing with areas such as identifying stakeholders, creating and communicating a vision. The skills day looked at influencing - especially where you have no direct authority (as is often the case for change agents) - and introduced delegates to a toolkit of styles they could draw upon.

The third module moved onto Phase 3 - Planning for Change - an aspect often overlooked in many organisations - and focussed assessing the impact and building readiness for change. Day 2 looked at the skills required to 'manage people through change', such as supporting people through the transition curve and handling conflict and resistance.

The fourth and final module covered both Phase 4 - Implementing Change and Phase 5 - Embedding and Reviewing Change. Key topics included sustaining momentum and motivation, empowering others, embedding the culture and the link to continuous improvement. The skill day was spent mapping and practising the skills and processes of effective facilitation.

The emphasis of the programme was very much on learning by doing. As such the modules contained a wide range of practical activities. Wherever feasible, the delegates split into smaller groups and applied exercises to actual projects they were involved in.
This gave the added benefit that as well as learning from the experience, they had direct outcomes to take back to their projects after each learning event. The event was concluded with a feedback session and learning review, which elicited comments such as:

"This programme has added an extra dimension to my knowledge and study of change management and increased my understanding of people and organisations' approach and reaction to change."

"I don't think I've attended a course where the trainer was so obviously expert in the subject and with a flexibility and enthusiasm always at a high level. It has built on my current knowledge, given me a theoretical framework, linked this to my current work and helped me develop networks within HBS."

"The programme has improved my understanding of change and how best to approach it. It has also helped us to develop a consistent approach to change management."

As well as the basic learning from the course material and tutor, the format of the event also allowed the group to learn from each other and gain a better understanding of each other's strengths and where to go in future for expert knowledge. It clarified some issues about roles and responsibilities and initiated a programme of work to roll out a consistent framework for projects and change across the organisation. With help and support from Pearlcatchers, both the team's colleagues and clients will now benefit from a consistency of approach to internal consultancy and managing change.

Pearlcatchers offers consultancy and development on a wide range of topics relating to internal consultancy, change and culture. These include leading and managing people through change; influencing, facilitating and participating in change; designing and changing culture; surviving mergers; e-transformation and organisational design.