Monitoring & Reviewing

Milestones are places where you can pause and look back at how far you’ve come, and reflect on the journey so far. They are also useful for co-ordinating future efforts (‘by this time we will have . . .’). Identify dates for having achieved certain successes in the change journey, but do not be afraid to rethink them at regular intervals. There may be very good reasons for taking a detour.

Balanced Scorecards are used to translate a company’s vision and strategy into implementation from four perspectives, for example:

• financial
• customer
• internal business processes
• learning and innovation.

Action Plans are likely to make an impact on each of these outcomes, but there will be a need to identify what good outcomes look like if progress is to be monitored.

It is generally considered that targets need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-related), and this makes sense for change processes too. However there are two caveats:

• firstly, make sure that the targets are SMART for all stakeholders – achievability and relevance may look different from different positions in the company;
• secondly, don’t let the targets become ends in themselves by distorting management behaviour – ‘ticking boxes’ spells the death of real and sustainable change.

Plan for and create short−term wins, including visible performance improvements; achieve those improvements and recognise and reward employees involved.

Observe patterns of activity and the results of unrelated incidents. Reflect back to people what is happening by capturing and spreading stories of change as they emerge.

Use lessons and experiences of change to challenge established norms.

Kipling’s advice to:

“. . . meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same”

has particular resonance for those involved in organisational change. Our People Centred Change guide presents change as a process of experimentation and learning. Experimentation opens the possibility of really successful innovation but runs the risk of failure. Both success and failure generate new knowledge, perhaps in equal measure.

Setbacks are completely predictable and will happen, but should rarely be used as an excuse for delaying or abandoning the change project.

Success in one part of a change project generates valuable knowledge about ‘what works’, and this should be captured and celebrated. However it does not create a blueprint that can be replicated again and again throughout the organisation. Share the findings with others, but let them test their relevance for themselves and adapt practices to suit their own situations.

We need to consider the lasting impact that the change has had on the organisation. Change Leaders, will be required to ensure that effective project progress review and monitoring is in place and this will be informed by feedback from surveys such as the Workplace Innovation Diagnostic® and Action Plans.

Another critical aspect is how change will be evaluated in the long term, and it will be helpful to refer back to the matrix in the Strategy module where we align strategic imperatives with workplace innovation. Hard measures may have built into the workplace innovation project, but the drivers for change may also have been more intuitive or culture related. Either way, how will you measure the impact on people within the organisation?

Repeating a survey such as the Workplace Diagnostic will allow you to assess the extent to which tangible changes in workplace practices have been achieved, and these will be associated with related improvements in performance, engagement and well-being. Some changes take longer to produce the desired outcomes, and there are additional actions that you can take to capture the longer-term benefits.

One evaluation tool that you may find useful is Kirkpatrick’s Model of Evaluation. It was primarily designed to measure the effect of training in an organisation, but we have adapted it to measure the impact of workplace innovation.

Kirkpatrick Model

Donald Kirkpatrick’s 1994 book Evaluating Training Programs defined what has arguably now become the most widely used and popular model for the evaluation of training and learning. Kirkpatrick’s four-level model is now considered an industry standard across much of the HR and training communities. Because of its focus on people and the impact on their application of new learning in the workplace, it is valuable in measuring the human side of change.

The four levels of Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model measure:

• The reaction of the learner – what they thought and felt about the training (or change).
• Learning – the resulting increase in knowledge or capability.
• Behaviour – extent of behaviour and capability improvement and application.
• Results – the effects on the business or environment resulting from improvements in the individual’s performance.

Kirkpatrick’s four levels of training evaluation

This table illustrates the basic Kirkpatrick structure at a glance, modified to focus on change rather than training:

Level	What is Measured	Evaluation description and characteristics	Examples of Evaluation Tools and Methods	Relevance, Practicality and Application
1	Reaction	Reaction evaluation is how the individuals felt about the change	Diagnostic results Coaching conversations. Group / Team discussions	Quick and very easy to obtain Not expensive to gather or to analyse
2	Learning	Learning evaluation is the measurement of the increase in knowledge – before and after the change	Observation Performance review Coaching conversations Team meetings	Relatively simple to set up using current systems
3	Behaviour	Behaviour evaluation is the extent of applied new ideas and learning in the workplace	Observation and conversations over time are required to assess change, relevance of change, and sustainability of change	Measurement of behaviour change typically requires cooperation and skill of line-managers
4	Results	Results evaluation of the effect on the business or environment by the change	Measures already in place via normal management systems and reporting – the challenge is to relate to people	Gives a picture of the whole organisation and culture