I have recently been examining issues involved in marketing change management. The kind of changes I am referring to include the introduction of a customer relationship management approach and the migration of brands and products across countries after a merger. It seems the biggest barrier to successful change is deployment of change management techniques, and when companies do deploy them the change is much more likely to be successful and profitable.
However, such success is rare. Putting it another way, marketers are not very good at managing change, but when they do it well, it works. Further, it seems that one of the constant worries of chief executives is whether their company has enough senior people who are good at managing change.
This led me to wonder why. One of my conclusions was that marketing training never focuses on change management. Another was that marketers are rarely exposed to good change management practice. They are also rarely rewarded for achieving high quality change. Their rewards are normally more closely tied to the success with which they deploy their existing marketing mix.
This is all very well in companies where the way marketing works does not change much. However, in companies where change in regulations, technology, and markets force change to how marketers work, it is dangerous particularly so in B2B marketing where the close relationship between supplier and customers makes failure in change very evident. For example, it’s obvious when sales staff are asked to do things they are poorly qualified for, as logistics slip behind requirement, or after-sales service starts to fall apart.
All of this is important because change is more prevalent and fast-moving than ever. Large enterprises often have ten or more change programmes at any one time. Without careful governance from the start, programmes may overlap and conflict, and result in wasted investment and frustrated stakeholders. Programme governance is not only about ensuring that each programme is managed responsibly against its own goals, timescales and budgets. It is also about ensuring the programmes fit clearly with each other and have a clear link to strategy with clear, measurable business goals.
In many marketing change programmes, marketing managers are assigned to run the programme. These managers, because of their lack of experience in managing change, may focus on the mechanics of running the programme rather than on the delivery of the business outcomes.
This may be because project control methodologies were developed by professional project managers for professional project managers. They are often misunderstood by managers who may be competent business managers, but have little or no experience in managing change programmes. It is rare to meet managers who get under the skin of how the programme goals will be achieved and who manage the programme dynamically towards these goals. Leading programme managers also recognise the importance of ‘hearts and minds’ at all stages in the programme (not just a step in the project plan) and don’t just play lip service to it.
In addition, marketing change programmes must embrace the critical role of ‘people’. Individuals have a view and will resist outside influences if they feel they are being ordered around or bullied. Command and control cultures are becoming less effective. Success is more likely if enterprises can engage their people and work with them to understand, define and embrace change. The need for the engagement and buy-in of staff affected by the change is clear. This is hard enough to do with employees. But with an increasing number of business models reliant on partners, third parties or agents to deliver change who may not be under the direct control of the enterprise the change approach needs to incorporate new strategies to influence and motivate. Programme design needs to involve people who have empathy with stakeholder groups, present a clear proposition and involve collaboration, co-operation, communication and coaching. The new era is about winning hearts and minds through collaboration and persuasion not control.
Corporate change programmes have been a part of an employee’s life for many years. Change programmes come and go, along with the senior managers who sponsor them. The stop-start nature of corporate change programmes, often promising the world, but delivering little, has left people weary and sceptical about the ‘next big programme’ and naturally resistant to change. Overcoming this attitude to change must be incorporated into programme design.
B2B marketing directors must be honest about their change management record and should consider whether they need more expertise in the area. If this is the case, they must make sure they have the right skills in their team whether by hiring or training. They should own and lead programmes of change and provide visible and clear leadership in making the change happen, transferring enthusiasm, vision and authority into the company.
This is critical for lengthy or high budget programmes. The programme should be managed so as to engage stakeholders. This is not just a step – it must pervade the way the whole programme is managed. Results should be communicated to the team to build confidence in the programme. In short, change should be managed as change management, not as standard marketing implementation.
