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At Q7 Consulting we are aware that we live in times of uncertainty and organizations need to be flexible and must have strong cultures of Change Management and Leadership in order to succeed. The current pandemic has brought on many challenges but also many opportunities for organizations. One of the opportunities is to ride the increased wave of Digital Transformation and as with any transformation, Change Management and Leadership are essential.

Continuing our new series: interviews we have personally done to industry leaders, business managers, chief officers and entrepreneurs from all kinds of professional backgrounds and industries, getting their perspectives on how they managed and implemented Change in their organizations and throughout their professional careers; in this fourth episode we interview Geraldine Maouchi, leading expert in Transformation across several industries and organizations with the profile of a Chief Digital Officer (“CDO”), sharing her knowledge through academia and providing enriching content through several articles.

In this interview we tackle another main topic in addition to Change Management and Change Leadership: Digital Transformation. As the implementation of Digital technologies were reaching their limits in several ways such as scalability, ROI, talents management… it became obvious that implementing Digital in a traditional organization requires a full transformation of the organization.

Please find below the main questions addressed in our interview with Geraldine Maouchi with to the point answers for easy reading.

Continue reading “Change Management Interview: Geraldine Maouchi”

At Q7 Consulting, we are aware that we live in times of uncertainty, and now more than ever Change Management and Leadership within organizations, are essential concepts for success.

The people we interview are from all around the world, have outstanding professional trajectories, have attained success within their roles, have essential leadership traits, are influential within their organizations and have experience implementing and managing change.

In this third episode of our new series, we interview Ernesto Claramunt Freixanet, an entrepreneur with investments and experience in several industries, mainly the textile sector. Ernesto Claramunt Freixanet specializes in business organization and efficiency and leads Change strategies for the optimization of production processes with the purpose of improving company profitability.

In this interview, the topic of automatization and optimization of production processes shines through, which implies Change Management and Leadership in order to achieve greater profitability. Please find below the questions addressed in our interview with Ernesto Claramunt Freixanet.

Continue reading “Change Management Interview: Ernesto Claramunt Freixanet”

At Q7 Consulting, we are aware that we live in times of uncertainty, and now more than ever Change Management and Leadership within organizations, are essential concepts for success. Great enterprises require great leadership and successful projects require effective management structures that flow through Change. Without these essential traits, projects will not be successful, talent will flee and enterprises cannot hope to overcome or stay up to date in the everchanging world we live in.

The people we interview are from all around the world and have outstanding professional trajectories. They have attained success within their roles, have essential leadership traits, are influential within their organizations and have experience implementing and managing Change.

In this second episode of our new series, we interview Tonny Berend, who recently was the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Municipality of Amersfoort, Netherlands. Amersfoort is a municipality in the Netherlands near the capital city of Amsterdam. Tonny Berend leads through her role to drive digital transformation and innovation, in order to transform cities into a major smart, sustainable, data and innovation driven, digitally savvy and “ready for the future” cities.

In this article we take a look at digital transformation, Change Management and Change Leadership applied directly for the benefit of a population, the environment and the evolution of a city into a “smart” city or city of the future, as such concept is widely used nowadays. This article shifts away from the notion that Change Leadership or Change Management only serves the goals of organizations and their members and broadens our perspective making us look into the future, where we live, and where our Changes can have major impacts in our teams, communities, cities, and eventually our countries.

Please find below the main questions addressed in our interview with Tonny Berend with to the point answers for easy reading.

Continue reading “Change Management Interview: Tonny Berend”

At Q7 Consulting, we are aware that we live in times of uncertainty, and now more than ever Change Management and Leadership within organizations, are essential concepts for success.

We have decided to add to our blog a new series: interviews we have personally done to industry leaders, business managers, chief officers and entrepreneurs from all kinds of professional backgrounds and industries, getting their perspectives on how they managed and implemented Change in their organizations and throughout their professional careers. Giving us and providing you with some of their successes, their insights and their learnings attained throughout their professional life, on change management and leadership.

The people we interview are from all around the world, have outstanding professional trajectories, have attained success within their roles, have essential leadership traits, are influential within their organizations and have experience implementing and managing change. In this first episode of our new series, we interview Nicolas Gruloos, current Head of Sales Support at Kofax for Europe, Middle-East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific operations. Kofax is a Computer Software company with presence in over 60 countries around the world. Kofax’s Intelligent Automation software platform helps organizations transform information-intensive business processes, reduce manual work and errors, minimize costs, and improve customer engagement.

Please find below the main questions addressed in our interview with Nicolas Gruloos, with to the point answers for easy reading.

Continue reading “Change Management Interview: Nicolas Gruloos”

One week ago (3rd of September) we published the seventh article in a series of eight about Change Management and the consequences for IT projects. It focused on how to sustainably realize the intended benefits in an IT project for a change effort. It is essential that companies don’t let go before the IT project is really completed! Declaring victory too soon will result in a situation that the organization could go back to its old way of working.

The experience from many different sources tells us that 75% of System Implementations fail to deliver their expected benefits. The one constant factor is that Change Management for People, Process and Technology is not appropriately addressed. Business leaders often do not realize enough how important this is or don’t know how to achieve it. Simply stated, but not so easily done.

This week we will look at the last and eighth step (out of 8) of the model of Kotter: Institutionalizing new approaches

You are encouraged to read further if you want to ensure your project ends up in the 25% quadrant.

Continue reading “Change Management for IT Projects (8 out of 8)”

Introduction

One week ago (27th of August) we published the sixth article in a series of eight about Change Management and the consequences for IT projects. It focused in-depth on systematically planning for and creating short-term wins. Short-term wins help to build momentum and help to prevent that the entire change effort is put at risk. By doing this, you ensure the continuous support of many people that would otherwise give up the earlier provided support and join the group of people that were already resisting the change.

The experience from many different sources tells us that 75% of System Implementations fail to deliver their expected benefits. The one constant factor is that Change Management for People, Process and Technology is not appropriately addressed. Business leaders often do not realize enough how important this is or don’t know how to achieve it. Simply stated, but not so easily done.

This week we will look at step 7 (out of 8) of the model of Kotter: Consolidating improvements and producing more change.

You are encouraged to read further if you want to ensure your project ends up in the 25% quadrant.

Continue reading “Change Management for IT projects (7 out of 8)”

Introduction

One week ago (19th of August) we published the fifth article in a series of eight about Change Management and the consequences for IT projects. It focused in-depth on empowering employees to act on the vision. Even when you have defined a clear Sense of Urgency, formed a powerful Guiding Coalition, created a clear Vision, and communicated it well, there will still be barriers that keep employees from executing the required Change. Step five in the model of Kotter is therefore to get rid of these barriers and by doing so, empower your employees and using all the potential in your company to implement Change successfully.

The experience from many different sources tells us that 75% of System Implementations fail to deliver their expected benefits. The one constant factor is that Change Management for People, Process and Technology is not appropriately addressed. Business leaders often do not realize enough how important this is or don’t know how to achieve it. Simply stated, but not so easily done.

This week we will look at step 6 (out of 8) of the model of Kotter: Planning for and creating short-term wins.

You are encouraged to read further if you want to ensure your project ends up in the 25% quadrant.

Continue reading “Change Management for IT projects (Part 6 out of 8)”

Introduction

One week ago (13th of August) we published the fourth article in a series of eight about Change Management and the consequences for IT projects. It focused in-depth on Communication of the vision for IT projects. There is usually a high risk of massive undercommunication and therefore it is important that Communication is really taken seriously. The seven key elements of Communication mentioned by John P. Kotter can support you in avoiding making expensive mistakes. Even if you are not a communication expert, applying the key elements will already result in a much better IT project.

The experience from many different sources tells us that 75% of System Implementations fail to deliver their expected benefits. The one constant factor is that Change Management for People, Process and Technology is not appropriately addressed. Business leaders often do not realize enough how important this is or don’t know how to achieve it. Simply stated, but not so easily done.

This week we will look at step 5 (out of 8) of the model of Kotter: Empowering your employees to act on the vision.

You are encouraged to read further if you want to ensure your project ends up in the 25% quadrant.

Continue reading “Change Management in IT projects (Part 5 out of 8)”

Introduction

One week ago (3^rd of August) we published the third article in a series of eight about Change Management and the consequences for IT projects. It focused in-depth on creating a clear Vision. Having a clear vision is essential for positioning your IT projects from the right perspective. Having a clear vision is even more essential for generating the required motivation for your people to make changes in processes and embrace new technologies.

The experience from many different sources tells us that 75% of System Implementations fail to deliver their expected benefits. The one constant factor is that Change Management for People, Process and Technology is not appropriately addressed. Business leaders often do not realize enough how important this is or don´t know how to achieve it. Simply stated, but not so easily done.

This week we will look at step 4 (out of 8) of the model of Kotter: Communication.

You are encouraged to read further if you want to ensure your project ends up in the 25% quadrant.

Continue reading “Change Management in IT Projects (Part 4 out of 8)”

Introduction

One week ago (28^th July) we published the second article in a series of eight about Change Management and the consequences for IT projects. It focused in-depth on forming a Powerful Guiding Coalition. Applying some models tools as the Six Thinking Hats will enable a much higher chance of success in your projects. Thus set properly the tone at the top, have a colorful Guiding Coalition and Project Team(s) so that you mobilize enough power to drive change!

The experience from many different sources tells us that 75% of System Implementations fail to deliver their expected benefits. The one constant factor is that Change Management for People, Process and Technology is not appropriately addressed. Business leaders often do not realize enough how important this is or don´t know how to achieve it. Simply stated, but not so easily done.

This week we will look at step 3 (out of 8) of the model of Kotter: Creating a Vision.

You are encouraged to read further if you want to ensure your project ends up in the 25% quadrant.

Continue reading “Change Management in IT Projects (Part 3 out of 8)”