A Change from Turkey Twizzlers?

When I launched Flourish, several people commented that they liked the content but not the photo. It was time for a change and here is the finished result; I do hope that you approve and that it does not put you off reading on!

In this month's issue, we take a leaf out of Jamie Oliver's book when he rocked the nation with his dazzling School Dinners campaign – he gave us a lot of food for thought for introducing change. Read on for some useful tips.

There is also hot news on the Investors in People front this year – more change lies ahead so when you have learnt more about how to manage change, you can plan your own change campaign for introducing the Investors in People Profile.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Flourish. If you know anyone else who is interested in these issues, please forward Flourish to them. If you've been forwarded this issue and you would like to receive your own, free copy every month, click here to subscribe.

Best wishes,

Annette

Managing Change - the Jamie Oliver Way

When Jamie Oliver arrived at a school in south London, every meal was served with chips and it was only the ‘what went with the chips' that changed each day - as long as it could be cooked in fat. To make a dramatic improvement in the quality of school meals, first in one London school followed by an entire London borough, Jamie Oliver and every research project on this subject all confirm three overall lessons about managing change:

Communication – People are much more likely to accept change, even those parts of it that they don't like much, if they are told what is going on rather than being kept in the dark. When change is in the air, no news is bad news. Think about how you can keep your people informed to avoid the rumour mill going into overdrive.

Involvement – Success comes from involving people so that, as much as possible, change is something that is done with them, rather than to them. Jamie involved the children in cooking some of the healthy recipes as well as show them some unhealthy ones – remember the chicken nuggets scene? So how can you involve your staff in your change programme? Why not try working on a force-field analysis with them? (See below).

Managing change is a two way street – Effective communication isn't just about managers telling people what is going to happen. They also have to listen and pay attention to information and ideas coming from those who are on the receiving end of change. The best way to do this is to influence and involve people. There are three types of people that you need to concentrate on when managing change:

• Enthusiasts – Identify the likely enthusiasts and get them on-side at an early stage; their enthusiasm will be contagious. For those of you who watched the series, Nora the dinner lady was Jamie's enthusiast.
• Gate Keepers – When you are managing change, you may need permission to do certain things and resources to exercise your plans. This and other decisions will come from the ‘Gate Keepers' i.e. those people with sufficient authority. In Jamie's case, it was the Head Teachers to allow him into their schools and the Council Officers to provide the resources needed.
• Resisters – In most cases, those who resist change are doing so for perfectly logical reasons from where they stand. It is not surprising that children that had never known anything but chips and burgers should turn their noses up at Jamie's creations. Converting them is the key to the success of managing change and one of the most rewarding aspects of management when you succeed.

To help you work through the likely reactions to your change initiative and how to minimise the resisters, try preparing a Force-field analysis. You can find a useful free tool from Mindtools.

If you want more help, then there are a couple of things that I would recommend:

1. Watch the Video Arts ‘Jamie's School dinners: managing and living with change DVD'. This has always been extremely well received by delegates on my workshops. It costs £1299 + VAT from Video Arts

2. Run an in-house workshop on Managing Change – either a half or full day or perhaps share one with another employer in your neighbourhood. If you choose to book one of my courses, I promise to bring along the Jamie Oliver DVD and you can see for yourself how he banished turkey twizzlers forever. Details of the workshop can be found on my website by clicking here.

Investors in People – Hot News!

It's all change for Investors in People too.

In addition to the main Investors in People Standard, you may know that there is a scored version called ‘Profile' which is a framework of good practice providing further stretch for organisations. It does this by going beyond the current scope of the Investors in People into broader areas of people management and development. There are four levels of Profile – with level 1 providing exactly the same as the Investors in People Standard. Levels 2 to 4 provide greater depth and breadth for each indicator theme.

The hot news is that the plans are to merge the Investors in People Standard with Profile so that from later this year there will only be one framework. This means for those organisations that are coming up for their Review, the scope of Profile provides the opportunity to provide further stretch and the development of good practice in more human resources areas.

A questionnaire has been developed to help you discover which elements of Profile are right for your organisation. This month, I am offering you a visit to work through this questionnaire with you and help you to produce an action plan against the Profile. Click here to arrange this visit.

You can also find a copy of the Investors in Profile on my website – click here to find it.

Special Offers

Profile questionnaire and action planning meeting for £250 + VAT, instead of the normal fee of £295 + VAT for bookings taken during April.

Events

Assertiveness Workshop – date and programme to be announced soon!

Please register your interest now by clicking here to email me.