Human Factors

Successful business change may require people to start to do things they didn't do before, do existing things differently or stop doing things they are used to doing.

The fact is that to improve results, you need to change behaviour.

Behavioural change is a key outcome from our approach, and it is vital that the human factors which affect behaviour are considered at every stage.

Listed below are a number of key points concerning the human aspects of change and how we address them as part of our business change process.

What's in it for me?

Individual behaviour is driven by self-interest. An individual will only be inclined to start to act in a new way if they can see a pay-off for themselves in doing so. It is vital therefore that any change initiative identifies the motivations of the individuals being asked to change, so the change initiative can focus on ensuring they perceive a pay-off from changing.

Multiple Perspectives

Individual people create their own, personal subjective views of the world. It is therefore vital that:

  • Change plans are based on a shared objective view of what change should deliver. Failure to do this will result in people relying on their own subjective views and cause them to work at cross-purposes.
  • When implementing change its vital to understand the perspectives of those being asked to change so that the change can be made to be something that people want to do.

    • Leadership

    The leadership team in an organisation has a vital role in delivering change.

  • They need to be directly involved in defining the goals of any change initiative, and be convinced themselves of the need for change
  • They need to communicate goals across their organisation, together with clear messages which set out why achieving change goals is important.
  • They need to define and communicate clear roles and responsibilities for the changed organisation, and set out the behaviour required of the people in these roles.
  • As change progresses leadership need to be supportive of their teams as they move into what may be uncharted territory, but need to be resolute in driving change through.
  • They need to be actively involved in monitoring and measuring change as it is delivered to drive adoption of new processes, systems and behaviours.

    • Technology Adoption

    Many technology projects founder because of poor adoption. Systems that theoretically appear brilliant are implemented but no-one uses them.

    People use technology if they see a reason to do so. It is therefore critical that the design of information systems takes this into account. To promote adoption, enabling information systems should be designed to ensure that using the system is:

  • On the critical path to delivering core outputs. –If people don’t use it they can’t do their jobs.
  • Critical to enabling others to do their work. –If people don’t use it others can’t do their jobs.
  • The easiest way for them to do their work. –if people don’t use the system, their work gets harder.
  • Is vital to demonstrating their individual performance. –if people don’t use the system they can’t demonstrate how good a job they are doing.
  • Is a provider of useful information that while not directly related to an individual's specific role, is needed on a frequent basis. –If people don’t use the system they have to use less convenient methods to get to this information.