Mary Lynch Associates - Services - Change Management

Change Management Projects

Review of the South West tourism strategy, 'Towards 2015'

This assignment had two main aims. These were: to assess whether the overall aims and objectives of Towards 2015 were being met, and to review the regional and sub-regional delivery structures in place including respective roles and responsibilities and to assess appropriate levels of investment.

The assignment combined the need for independent evaluation of achievement against targets with an assessment of the extent to which the tourism support structures were effective in delivering against targets. As there is a regional organisation, South West Tourism and nine destination management partnerships, this required extensive consultation. The recommendations needed to reflect the different circumstances of each partnership but present a clear way forward. The recommendations were presented to the South West RDA Board in May 2007 and agreed.

Bringing about organisational change

In November 2002 the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced a significant reform programme which included organisational change. Two existing organisations, the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Council would no longer exist and a new body, Visit Britain, would be created with a different remit. The creation of a new organisation with a new culture was to be achieved in 6 months. Chief Executive of Visit Britain, Tom Wright, said:

"This change management project required us to bring together the two organisations into one new body. The tight timetable meant that we needed to work quickly to design and create a new organisation whilst maintaining the focus and motivation of the employees of our respective organisations. We also needed to manage stakeholder communications and deal with redundancies and recruitment at a time of considerable pressure for the tourism industry. During this challenging time Mary Lynch was focussed and professional. She contributed significantly to the success of the change programme."

Establishing a new Regional Tourism Organisation

Following the delegation of strategic responsibility for tourism to the Regional Development Agencies, Yorkshire Forward conducted a review of organisation structures. This review led to an agreement between Yorkshire Forward and Yorkshire Tourist Board to restructure the organisation and introduce new governance arrangements. Mary Lynch Associates was employed to manage the change programme to include the recruitment of a new Chair and Board, the design of a new business plan, the development of a 3-year funding agreement and the management of the recruitment and redundancy issues arising from the change. The changes were successfully managed and implemented in 6 months.

Achieving Consensus on tourism structures in the East of England

In March 2005, Mary Lynch Associates was engaged by the East of England Development Agency to propose a new structure for the public sector's involvement in tourism. At the time of this appointment the discussions were stalled and there was no consensus on the way forward. An audit of options was prepared for EEDA and an agreement was secured for the best option. The detail of this was developed and a paper was taken to the Boards of EEDA and the East of England Tourist Board in June and July. The proposals were accepted and an agreement was reached on the next steps needed to implement these changes.

Mary Lynch Associates was engaged to work with EEDA and EETB to implement these changes over the following 9 months. This involved the development of a new business plan, creation of a new staff structure, new memorandum and articles for the company, recruitment of a new Chair and Board and managing the transition to the new Board.

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