A Proven, Data-Powered Framework to Strengthen Change Readiness
Project Background
After a leading American research-based biopharmaceutical company consolidated their Regulatory, Safety and Quality organizations into a unified Development Organization, they invested in developing their approach and operating methods to drive a cohesive function. Although officially united, personnel felt they were still operating in silos and were unable to articulate a shared culture. As a result, change readiness was low and people reported feelings of change fatigue, concerns of psychological safety and a lack of clarity for why things were changing. With no clear reason as to why groups were experiencing this resistance, it was critical to the transformation program to identify the root cause of this resistance before moving forward.
Our Methodology
Afiniti partnered with the biopharmaceutical company to support them on their change journey, developing their capability to communicate change effectively and equipping leaders to build a change ready culture, bringing people along on the change journey. Using our data-driven approach, we were able to evidence the reasoning for the resistance and strategize new change communications and engagement plans to guide them through the change, engaging their teams in a way that they had not been able to do previously.
- Conducted discovery interviews and identified common themes associated with change resistance. To validate these, we deployed our proven 6LeverTM diagnostic tool, generating comprehensive qualitative insights.
- The 6Lever™ assessment revealed a very strong leadership team with a clear vision. However, this vision wasn’t cascading to the levels below the leadership team, highlighting a need for leaders to increase visibility in the forward engagement approach, with clear feedback mechanisms punctuated with engaging, bite-sized communications and learning.
- Leveraged the results from the 6Lever™ tool to architect a new communication and engagement framework. The new framework emphasizes consistent messaging to increase reliability and trust in the messaging, as well as feedback mechanisms so those outside of the leadership team remain actively engaged with the transformation.
- The results were segmented by function, enabling us to target areas for development while providing each group with three key recommendations for enhancing change readiness in their area. This was supplementary to the overall framework and created a customized engagement blueprint to ensure individuals were receiving messaging that was relevant to them.
- To prepare the leadership team to champion the transformation and become role models for the change, we developed a Leaders’ Communication Toolkit to arm them with the tools to effectively communicate compelling change messages.
- We launched a Change Leaders’ Network that co-designed the communications toolkit and engagement of the wider RSQ community, ensuring that consistent and unified change messages flow from the leadership team down and that the feedback from the RSQ community is communicated and heard by the leaders. This feedback mechanism ensures that lessons are captured and the approach to transformation stays connected, relevant and impactful.
The Impact We Delivered
- From the 6Lever™ tool we were able to demonstrate leaders would benefit from a unified change communications framework with increased leadership visibility. Having the data and analytics to demonstrate this facilitated meaningful dialogue within the team, creating the opportunity to prioritize and structure their transformation approach and positioning them in a stronger change readiness state.
- Through the implementation of consistent messaging and creation of feedback mechanisms we are helping them build change resilience across the enterprise, making them more prepared for the transformation and increasing their understanding of why the change is necessary.
- Change communications and engagement are now a priority for the leadership team and they are working in partnership with us to communicate change more effectively.
- Our work continues and we will continue to support them building change capabilities with plans to measure distance travelled in the near future.
What began as a fragmented organization struggling with change fatigue and psychological safety concerns has evolved into a unified organization with evidence-based insights, leadership alignment, and systematic feedback mechanisms that position them to navigate future transformations with confidence and measurable change readiness across all functional areas.
Experiencing change resistance in your organization? Take a sample version of our 6LeverTM assessment tool today and identify areas of priority for you. Or, reach out to a member of the Afiniti team to discuss your change requirements.
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