By Bill Knight, Director, Ergo
Organisations accept unrelenting change as a key feature of today's business environment and consequently view effective business change management as a core competence. Leaders and managers at all levels of the organisation, from the boardroom to front line operations, strive to realise the benefits of change without undermining current business performance or introducing unacceptable risk. Decision making in complex, uncertain environments requires wide engagement, high levels of awareness and active participation, yet the process invokes anxiety and dysfunction as teams struggle to understand the full impact of their actions.
The concept of Situation Awareness (SA) was first developed in the field of military aviation. It provides a useful perspective for organisations focused on improving their competence in business change management. In the first of a series of articles, we outline an approach to business change based on the military concept of Situation Awareness [SA]. This approach identifies planning and implementation conflicts before they create problems, confirms predicted benefits as realistic and engages people in developing a dynamic business plan.
