Developing a Stronger Change Programme

 

In every group or situation there are a number of people or stakeholders who can influence the success of an initiative.  A thorough consideration of who these people are and what power or influence they have can help develop a stronger change programme. 

 

One approach is to make a list of all the stakeholders and consider for each of them:

 

harms and benefits of the change

their rights and responsibilities

consider the relative power of each

formulate your plan accordingly

 

(adapted from Silbiger)

 

Another approach is to plot where each stakeholder might sit according to their policy making power and their operational power.  So, for example, the most senior staff will have the highest rule making power.  However, it will usually be the staff and their team leaders who have the operational power, the power to actually make it happen.  For successful change in a large organisation you need both operational and policy making power.  The matrix below shows how it can often be the managers in the middle who are hugely important stakeholders because they will have influence where policy is made and influence where service is delivered. 

 

 

 

 

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Article by Stella Smith

Stella has an MBA from the Open University and is an Associate Lecturer for the Open University Business School.   She is a volunteer Refugee Mentor for the Time Together mentoring scheme and a trustee of the Greenleaf Centre for Servant-Leadership UK.  

 

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