There is a broad consensus amongst company directors that the partial or total failure of most change projects is rooted in the execution phase:

• the change strategy is poorly converted into detailed plans or transformed,
• the problem is underestimated and it is assumed that once issues have been identified, then “they will solve themselves”,
• insufficient or temporary mobilization of resources,
• failure to transfer skills,
• downgrading of the initial objectives,
• failure to manage resistance to change,
• etc.

These are the reasons why we are convinced that:

• the quality of project steering actions must not be neglected and represents a real specialty,
• the continuous input of expertise to guarantee that the target is achieved, in accordance with the benefits objectives, must continue until the end of the project,
• the fundamentals of change management must be respected (communication, transfer of skills, management of the HR dimension, etc.).

The change process is usually executed in two phases:

1. A phase of intense mobilization,resulting in pilots, quick-wins and industrial-strength deployment methods. This first phase is essential in order to:
   • convert the strategy into detailed plans,
   • demonstrate the benefits through pilots and quick wins,
   • better prepare for the next phase in order to cut costs and cycles.
2. A deployment and extension phase, in which the risk of failure is high and there is a temptation to consider that the project will succeed if the pilots succeeded, and subsequently “to drop one’s guard”. The challenges facing project management in this third phase consist in:
   • making sure that resources remain available and committed,
   • changing track according to changing circumstances,
   • making all the schedules visible to encourage emulation,
   • making sure that the gains are still achieved,
   • adapting solutions to the margins (or not, in certain cases) to take specifics into consideration.

In certain cases, these two phases can be broken down into “major fields”.

Because change management is a true specialty, Argon Consulting supports its customers in the execution of change processes, by adapting the size and the profile of its own teams to the maturity and availability of its customer’s teams. In this case, our support can take the shape of:

• help in the detailed definition of the change road map, organization into projects and definition of the targets,
• providing the initial impetus in each of the projects,
• close involvement in strategic and/or technically complex projects,
• continuous supply of business input for the operational application of the target,
• overall control and benefits tracking,
• transfer of skills and know-how to the customers’ teams.