Change Management
One of the reasons we highlight our project management pedigree is because change management relies totally on sound project management principles to succeed. Without structure you’ll simply waste money and fall way short of your potential.
Collaboration Wins
If a consultant, or change management specialist, suggests they single handedly have all the answers for your business, run for the hills. No one is that good.
That’s why, regardless of the size of the contract, we overlay a project management framework across the entire change management piece. And it works.
Think about a complex civil project. To succeed the project requires a lead project manager - that’s us - and a team of specialists that deliver a raft of services from civil engineering, legal, earthmoving, surveying, concrete, electrical, structural steel, through to IT solutions.
It makes no sense hiring these specialists individually and without a cohesive engagement plan and expecting to deliver the project on time and on budget. That’s why strategy and collaboration is the key.
Change is Positive
Change management should not be seen in the same terms as crisis management. Change SHOULD be viewed as an ongoing and positive commitment to being a better version of yourself today, tomorrow. Change keeps you on your toes and competitive. Change is just another way of positively EVOLVING. Elite athletes adopt a change management approach to everything they do. They set a foundation and are always adapting to maintain a competitive edge. They evolve their training ALL THE TIME. But in doing so, they are always positively moving forward and being a better version of themselves each and every day. Business should be no different.
OUR PORTFOLIO
Manufacturing
We were recently engaged by Walshs Glass to implement a business transformation strategy. Walshs Glass is the largest flat glass processor and distributor of glass in WA. Part of this process was supporting Walshs implement a $7.5M capital upgrade with the world leading Austrian firm, LiSEC. Working with an amazing team we successfully supported the implementation of the most efficient vertical standing glass cutting machine - SplitFin - in the world. We also took over Walshs workers compensation portfolio, cleaned it up and will manage the portfolio into the near future.
Club
CEO of SMEA Dean Logan was engaged as the Interim General Manager / CEO of the Fremantle Sailing Club to support the organisation through a very difficult period. Over ten months we implemented a change management plan and steered the largest sailing club in the southern hemisphere out of a very serious storm. We then handed the club over to a new CEO.
NGO
Spanning a total of nine months we took over a community aged care company with 3,000 clients, six regional offices, 150+ staff and 357 volunteers across South West, Western Australia. This was an amazing project that delivered a series of long-lasting and yet incredible outcomes to both clients and staff.
Health
SMEA was thrilled to have Naturaliste Skin Clinic (NSC) as a client. NSC is one of the most respected players in their field throughout Western Australia. Established 12 years ago NSC has stand alone clinics in Bunbury and Busselton and a vast array of visiting clinics across the State. We were engaged to assess the business and provide a raft of recommendations for growth and potential sale.
NZ Education
From 2016 through to mid-2018 we developed and implemented a change management program for the well respected NZ based company, School Support Limited (SSL). SSL was a complex entity and yet had lost it’s way after 27 years of operation. With six powerful divisions, SSL was considered an industry success story. We successfully restructured divisions like architectural design, accounting and project management, whilst establishing a culture employees wanted to be apart of. We loved our time in sunny Nelson, rebuilding a national kiwi icon and wish SSL every success into the future
ADDITIONAL CLIENTS
OUR PLANS
Scoping Exercise
This is the most basic package we offer and yet the most important.
In essence, you engage us to undertake a ‘scoping’ exercise of your business. We address everything from HR and stakeholders, through to work place health and safety, compliance, marketing, sales pipeline, assess competitors, market opportunities, training requirements, succession planning, leadership, structures and culture. We’ll assess and advise on the most appropriate ‘change methodology’ needed to reform and add genuine value to your business and provide you with a full report. Once we submit our report there is no obligation to hire us going forward.
Short Term Engagement
We adopt a number of project management principles when delivering change management services for clients. For example, there is no point being overly detailed too early. If you start the process with a ‘specification’ focus, you’ll fail every time. As a change management practitioner, the most fundamental starting point is to ‘scope’ the business and build relationships - and that’s exactly what we do.
We then define a time frame to implement key yet agreed deliverables - these are often macro or structural elements. Depending on the business - ability to embrace change, employee buy-in and overall business health - three months is a solid time frame to set the foundations for reform. Once this phase is completed, you can either agree to engage us to help you implement the plan further, or choose to deliver the plan yourself. Either way you’ll be set up, confident and ready to see the fruit of all this work.
Medium Term Engagement
This plan speaks for its self. Generally speaking, we’ve built a great relationship with the client and at least four months into the project with key reforms agreed to and operationally in-play. As a result, this phase relies heavily on two principle drivers:
1. Implementation, and;
2. An ongoing committing to reform.
You can see why getting ‘scope’ and ‘specification’ right at the start, is so crucial. Generally speaking, if this hasn’t occurred business owners lose interest at this point and will often walk away from the change management program.
How do we convince business owners not to walk away?
We prove that success relies heavily on a genuine willingness to measure and evaluate decisions on an ongoing basis. Evaluation and a willingness to ‘re-tweak’ decisions isn’t related to blame (getting things wrong), but rather totally about being honest. This is why medium term contracts are the most rewarding; now is the time to dig deep. And its where you start to see small wins turn into larger more fruitful outcomes in terms of increased revenue and enhanced culture. It’s really this phase the builds the foundation for your future.
Depending on the nature and complexity of the business, clients start seeing positives reforms by the six-month mark. We rarely put a time-frame on programs, but our goal is different to a lot of change management practitioners: we don’t look to hang around. Our job is done when reform is evidenced, the future looks brighter and our client is in total control. In essence, our job is done when we are not needed anymore.
Specific Purpose
In some instances a client may require a specific outcome to be delivered. For example, they ask us to take over their WH&S portfolio, work with management, insurers and rehab providers, to clean up the mess. We are always happy to do so, but these projects are thwart with risk. Hence we’ll still assess ‘scope’, ‘specification’ and implementation plans to ensure we not only deliver, but add genuine value to your business as a whole.