Human Resources Issues for Senior Management
Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/343811
26 Executive Series Digest hrreporter.com W hen an organization is implementing strategic change, it's not enough to scribble down a change management framework and call it a day. It has to be embedded in the culture — and it has to permeate all levels of the organization, according to Michael Beard, president and CEO of the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), a not-for-profit firm that is accountable to the Ontario government. ree years ago, TSSA — which has about 400 employees across the province — began the journey of implementing a change management strategy. "We knew as an organization that, strategically, we would be implementing changes that would be taking the organization to different places than where it was and where it (had) come from," said Beard. "So what we really needed was a solid understanding of what it would take to actually achieve that strategy… and we knew that we couldn't do that just by writing it on a piece of paper." It knew it would never be successful without a solid infusion of change management into the organization's culture — so that's exactly what TSSA set out to do. Partnering with Orchango, a Toronto-based learning and consulting firm specializing in building change management capabilities, TSSA identified a key sponsor from within senior leadership, designed a change management strategy, and started the rollout from the top down. Initial challenges Among the first things Orchango did was calculate a change management (CM) score — a met- ric based on information from focus groups, interviews with key stakeholders, and observation. For TSSA's change management strategy, it was first piece of the puzzle change management Culture at heart of change management By Liz Bernier