While a trip to the hairdresser can result in us feeling better about ourselves in the short term, hairdressing cannot address deap seated resistance to change.

It was recently suggested to me that I am a hairdresser. Apparently as a change manager it is my role to come in at the end and make things look nice. Well there may be change managers out there who work that way, but it’s not me, and not the way that my Mindset colleagues work either.

Personally, I am passionate about supporting people achieve better results for themselves and their organisations but, as a consultant, I often find that clients are expecting me to provide clear instructions about what they should say or how they should handle a particular situation.

Somewhat perversely, telling people what to do is rarely the correct way to inspire change. Being told often brings a short term compliance attitude, which can be fine for simple tasks, but not complex and enduring transformations where people need to put their heart, soul and own intuition into new ways of working. Non-judgemental coaching is far more powerful, yet can have a reputation for being the soft option.

We often hear managers say, “This <change project> is critical to our business… people have to follow whether they like it or not.” That may be true, but how many smokers are still out there? They’re all well educated on the dangers of smoking and the need to give it up to avoid a premature death, and yet, perplexingly enough (even to themselves), they’re still smoking.

Hairdressing cannot and does not address deep seated resistance to change. Sure, a cut and colour can make you feel better for the short term but permanent change can only be acheived by supporting people recognise their inner issues and find their own personal solutions. Soft is actually very hard.

Ben Ramsden
Senior Transformation Consultant

Inspirational Change Leaders from top left to bottom right: The Dalai Lama, Jesus Christ, Rosa Parks, Mahatma Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, John Lennon, and Martin Luther King Jr.

As a seasoned strategy professional with major corporates around the globe, I have long seen the opportunity to eliminate the failure of major strategic change projects. Despite being launched with commitment and energy from the top of organisations, and often with big name consultancy support; cost overrun, delay and performance shortfall have been the norm for well over a decade.

My hunger for solutions was such that two years ago I broke away from my mainstream commercial career to learn and use the tools of change. I now believe that the right blend of commercial practice and change psychology delivers a truly effective business strategic change capability.

Traditional change projects have struggled to manage the people side of change. An emerging discipline known as change management successfully does this by ensuring that new capabilities are employed not just deployed. Benefits are realised by managing the staff uptake swiftly, broadly, and to its full capability, thus ensuring project return on investment is achieved.

Today change management looks a little like a cottage industry of independent practitioners and small consultancies that can lack credibility at the Board table. Whilst many people describe themselves as change managers, it is often difficult to recruit with confidence that the desired business benefits will be realised. Some ASX-10 corporations are creating their own internal change centres of excellence, but most organisations lack the scale or appetite to do this. Until change management becomes available from major consultancies, what are risk-averse major corporates to do?

There are some excellent smaller consultancies that excel in realising the benefits from business change. The best are distinguished by:

• Offering a comprehensive change measurement system
• Using a proven change methodology such as Prosci
• Employing high-calibre mainstream business people as consultants

As one of the very few strategy consultants certified in change management globally, I have a near unique mix of skills which give me an extremely powerful strategic change capability.

Businesses only change when the people inside choose to. So, what are you doing to help your people change?

Ben Ramsden
Senior Transformation Consultant