Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 182

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change either their actions or their beliefs. So what happens is that if the staff
believe in the organisation’s overall purpose, they will be happy to change
their individual behaviour to serve that purpose. But to feel comfortable
about change and to carry it out with enthusiasm, staff must understand
the role of their actions in the future of the organisation. We all know
that it isn’t enough to tell staff that they will have to do things differently.
Anyone leading a change programme must take the time to think through
its “narrative” - what makes it worth undertaking- and to explain that story
to all of the people involved in making the change happen, so that their
contributions make sense to them as individuals.

Ensuring Sustained Change
We often hear that it is most difficult to change mind-sets. But it can happen
when staff understand the reason for the change and support it. Staff must
have the skills to do what it requires and see the people they respect
consistently showing the new behaviour. These add up to behavioural
changes in organizations by changing attitudes about what can and should
happen at work.
To sustain change in any organisation, reporting structures, management
and operational processes, and measurement procedures - setting targets,
measuring performance, reward and recognition systems – must also be
consistent with the behaviour that staff are asked to demonstrate. When an
organisation’s goals for new behaviour are not reinforced, staff are less likely
to adopt it consistently. For example, if senior staff are urged to spend more
time coaching junior staff but coaching doesn’t figure in the performance
appraisal, they are not likely to do it well.
For behavioural change to be sustained, organizations that want to maintain
higher performance need to continuously ensure that the structures and
processes that reinforce or condition the new behaviour are “oiled” regularly
and not assumed to be on autopilot.

Skills and role models for implementing change
If an organisation asks its staff to be ‘client-centric’ but paid little attention
to the client in the past, the staff will need to learn how to do this as they
would not have any idea how to interpret this principle and won’t know what
a good outcome would look like.
How can adults then be equipped with the skills they need to make relevant
changes in behaviour? The ACTA training advises, based on Kolb’s learning

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