Triaging a flailing national change program

New ways of working? We advise from both personal and client experience.

Early into the Activities-Based Work (ABW; people match work settings to their tasks) movement, we were called in to diagnose why the change program associated with a global lighthouse project at a major bank was failing. A year in, the initiative was largely rejected by staff; the change team were villainized and discouraged; and the business case was sabotaged. 

Within three weeks, we diagnosed the problems, and within four months the program was redesigned with full collaboration from IT and HR. The ensuing 12 months saw the effective transition of 9,000 staff, with the rest of the 40,000 transitioning shortly after, regaining the trust of the Board. The bank remains a global leader in agile work.