In long-term change projects, it is crucial to keep in mind why the journey of change was initially embarked upon and what do the optimal end results look like. What other elements are ultimately present in a successful business transformation? How can one ensure that the overall change does not become difficult to approach or unclear? And how can the organisation’s leadership be brought onboard for this journey?
The LocalTapiola Group has over 1.6 million owner-customers and it employs 3,800 professionals referred to as lifelong security specialists all over Finland. LocalTapiola Group – focused on insurances and investments – has been on a journey aiming at a business transformation and system renewal for a couple of years now. The goal of this journey is to significantly elevate the level of customer experience, which in turn is expected to drive business growth.
At Gofore’s Leading Change event in May, Veera Lammi, a director and owner of the renewal project, along with Jenni Koski, a leading expert in change management, shared their best insights and tools for the change journey.
Joint journey with clear objectives in mind
The business transformation project at LocalTapiola Group has been concretised by depicting it as a sea voyage. This imagery of a sea voyage and the treasure island that lies ahead in the goals is frequently revisited in LocalTapiola’s change communication to its staff, referred to as lifelong security specialists.
– We have successfully communicated the change journey using the metaphor of a sea voyage. We are all in this together, sailing towards our treasure island. Some actions are visible and take place on deck, while others occur below the deck but are still crucial in steering us towards our business objectives,” Veera Lammi summarises.
Change capability as a source for competitive edge
LocalTapiola Group has successfully steered its change journey for the second year now. Together with Gofore’s change management professionals, a strong foundation for successful transformation has been built.
As with all changes, the transformation of LocalTapiola Group has both a technical side and a human side. Lammi and Koski emphasise the importance of managing the human side of change.
The cornerstones of a successful change journey are honesty, openness, and an invitation to genuine dialogue. And accepting the fact that no change journey is just sunshine and smooth sailing; LocalTapiola Group’s journey has also included storms and bypassed reefs.
– Change journeys are always somewhat foggy by nature. Saying this out loud often creates a sense of control for people in the midst of the change journey. Understanding what is changing and why. Understanding one’s role and expectations. Trying and practising new things, and learning together, says Jenni Koski.
Successful change projects are characterised by strong support from leadership
Lammi and Koski list three questions that organisational leadership often ponder when building the foundation for change management:
- What exactly is the goal of change management?
- When is the right time to start change management actions?
- And how much is reasonable to invest in change management?
How should these be answered?
– Change management should always support business growth. Therefore, from the perspective of investment in change management, a good rule of thumb is that the larger the business transformation project, the greater the support for people’s change is also needed. The business benefits sought through changes are sustainably realised only when people adopt new ways of working as part of their daily activities, summarises Lammi.
What do change management and avocados have in common?
When large change projects begin, many organisations wonder when is the right time to start managing the change?
Jenni Koski shares an insightful, grounding example: determining the right time for change management is like getting an avocado ready to eat. First, it is too raw, then it is just right for a couple of days, and then it quickly becomes overripe. Determining the right time is therefore quite challenging.
– The work begins with building change capabilities and processes. All this preferably a little too early rather than late, Koski clarifies.
Veera Lammi continues:
– I see that from the perspective of timing, change management should start simultaneously with the project’s implementation decision. When it comes to business-supporting change management, it’s not so much about whether we can afford it. It’s about whether we can afford not to do it.
Always lead your change initiative based on measured facts
The leadership team is known to have numerous metrics they are expected to follow to support wise decision-making. It is also worthwhile to measure the impact of change management. But how can one get the leadership excited about yet another set of metrics that will be monitored for years to come?
– Change management must be data-driven. This way, it integrates into the leadership’s work as well. For us, change experience measurement has been a key tool for the leadership to analyse the pace and progress of the change, explains Lammi.
Strengthen the goals of change management: Quarterly targets per stakeholder group
Lammi and Koski turn their attention to the big goals of the change project and how even large goals can be achieved by breaking them down by stakeholder group and into clear, quarterly phases. At LocalTapiola Group, methods of engagement have been utilised not only to identify the needs of stakeholders but also their change needs.
A toolkit for a successful change journey
Initiate your change management actions from the very beginning
Define the nature of the change and your approach to it. Analyse together with people what the change aims to achieve. And to ensure that the leadership has the best conditions to succeed in their role in change management, it is also important to take care of the leadership’s change capabilities or skills. This can include defining a common language for the change and training in change management.
Identify stakeholder needs, the change path, and align actions with goals
It is essential to identify what is being aimed for with different stakeholders – what is the concrete change that should happen for them. Pause monthly to consider these: what needs to be achieved with different stakeholders this quarter? Keep the treasure island actively in people’s minds.
Who does what? Get the roles right!
The best team to drive change forward is often varied in composition and linked to the current goals. LocalTapiola Grup ‘s change journey has been carried out and led by the company’s own top professionals, with leverage from Gofore’s change management experts.
Thirsty for more insight into change?
Is your organisation mature enough to truly handle change? Join us for an inspiring webinar to dive deeper into the concept of change maturity—what it means, why it matters, and how to assess it. And above all, how to reach it in your organisation, too.