999 Fire Project Failure? Another Example of Why 70% of Change Efforts Crash and Burn
The failure of a Government project to set up nine regional fire control centres at a cost of £439m to the taxpayer could have been predicted, says The Ken Blanchard Companies. The 'Firecontrol' project, which should have replaced 46 regional control centres was scrapped last year, having achieved none of its original objectives. Now MPs are saying it was 'flawed from the outset.'
Damon Largent , Consulting Partner with the Ken Blanchard Companies agrees." The public accounts committee has said the project was 'fatally undermined' because the Department for Communities and Local Government had not worked properly with local fire services. They also criticised a lack of leadership and accountability for the project - all classic reasons why, according to our research, 70% of change efforts fail."
"Leaders must have the buy-in and commitment of people being asked to change if projects are to succeed," says Largent. "In this case, this was clearly a top-down driven project, and was therefore bound to lead to a destructive outcome - low productivity and morale, unmet expectations, and of course wasted time and money."
The Ken Blanchard Companies, in its 'Leading People Through Change' programme teaches leaders how to identify and address the typical questions that come up during periods of change, and how organisations can adapt to predictable stages of challenge and concern. It is a model that works for all types of change efforts, including mergers and acquisitions, business process reengineering, sales force expansion, and technology implementations.
The empty Firecontrol buildings are still costing £4m per month to maintain.
LINKS:
BBC News coverage
Blanchard's Leading Through Change Programme