Maya van den Heuvel - Avans University of Applied Sciences
Maya van den Heuvel, Director of Organizational Development, Avans University of Applied Sciences
"We were in the process of realizing the strategic goals as formulated in our long-term policy. Our idea was that this would not only demand that we do different things, but also that we do things differently. That realization led to the insight that our approach to innovation needed to be process-driven, rather than plan-driven.
In terms of its approach and its underlying philosophy of change, the Change Monitor fit in very well with the path we had chosen for innovation. In this approach, we pay equal attention to remaining focused on the strategic goals and to working together in realizing the change. Already at the halfway point, we started using the Change Monitor to assess our development so far. And by using the same intervention for the final evaluation, we were not only able to assess our progress during the second period, but we could use the outcomes in determining the strategy for our new long-term policy.
The Change Monitor is more than a research tool. It also functions as an in-depth process intervention. I gained better insight into what it takes for people to work together on a common agenda for change. Especially if we we hold our management responsible for the results in their respective academies or departments. The observations and personal advice that the certified senior consultant gave us about several components of our approach to change were likewise of great value to us.
For Avans, the Change Monitor has provided insight into the degree to which our organization can handle change processes. The level of commitment has increased in terms of the implementation of the long-term policy. We see the value and the result of the experiments that we did. And we learned to discuss and refine our change strategy with the top 50 of our organization. We now allow for different strategies and discuss the pros and cons rather than enforcing a single approach.
The effect of the Change Monitor could be seen and felt primarily in the collaboration between the initiators of the change and those people who were involved in it. The dialogue between those actors was crucial for the learning capacity of organization. If that is important to you as well, the Change Monitor – and especially the accompanying method of discussing the results – is certainly a highly valuable tool."