Readiness for Change

It is one thing to have confidence in your own capability and knowledge of what it is you want to do, but it is quite another thing to feel equally confident that your plans will be received and executed as you would want.

To put this in context, the majority of leaders surveyed report that change programmes they have embarked upon previously have failed in at least one aspect, and the large majority fail in multiple respects.

One of the major blind spots for leaders is in respect of the assumptions that are made about the organisation and it’s ability to cope.

These assumptions have two typical impacts:

1.Leaders assume the organisation is over-loaded in some way, and desired change is postponed

2.Leaders assume the organisation can cope with desired changes, and pushes on regardless.

Applied Acumen can help you avoid making the wrong decisions by properly quantifying and qualifying the assumptions you are making about the organisation, helping you to adapt your approach to ensure success.

Please call us to discuss how we do this.


Is this just a typical generic survey done by consultants to get us to go ahead with their programme?


There is a survey that has been in use for many years, and it is typically presented as ‘evidence’ that the consultants understand the culture of the business, and that your people crying out for the change programme they are desperate to sell you.

A key differentiator for us is that all our programmes are bespoke designed to fit the given situation, and therefore rely heavily on a detailed understanding of the barriers and the enablers for the specific changes required.

Firstly, this understanding is garnered through a variety of proprietary diagnostic means not used by our contemporaries. Secondly, our programme approach is completely flexible, meaning the outcome of our diagnostic does not always result in exactly the same programme being either possible, or wise.

Finally, our pioneering payment by results approach is not just our standard delivery model – something our contemporaries have been and should rightly be forced to emulate, it has from the very outset determined our operating model. To be sure of getting paid, and of working in a way which reflects our values, we have to be certain that both we and our clients succeed. We can only do this with our 100% confidence if we are 100% confident the organisation has capacity, capability and desire to do whatever we propose.

To find out more, give us a call.

I know what I want to do, and I’ve been successful before, so why do I need this?

Past experience and performance is a good indicator of future success – in most cases.

However, conditions are never the same. Ever. To begin with, people are different, and every good leader knows that not everyone behaves in the same way, and even the same people behave differently under different circumstances.

Furthermore, a common finding is for a person to attempt to transfer their experience from one environment to another, without realising that the environments are different. A very common example of this is where an individual comes from a large, well respected ‘big name’ company, perhaps renowned for it’s strong management ethic, processes and systems to another, less well structured company – one probably looking for a bit of that ethic and process magic to rub off.

Such individuals typically fail, yet the vast majority of recruitment is geared toward exactly this kind of placement! Other examples include where people come with one management style in to an environment which requires another, or from one type of culture to another, and so on.

This is but one aspect of many, and one reason why undertaking a more structured diagnostic and tailoring the approach rather than the ambition can ensure all these people can indeed be successful, no matter where they’ve come from.

Get in touch to find out more.

Contact us for more information today on +44 (0) 20 3877 0618