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?How clean is your house?, is an addictive TV programme. I think it?s because Kim and Aggie, who transform unbelievably untidy homes into sparkling show houses, do dole out good advice, observes Sara Phillips. At the end of every episode, they warn the owner of the house that their shiny surfaces won?t stay that way unless they develop the habit of doing a little bit of housework every day. It?s this piece of rather unsexy advice that Momentum Arts has taken to heart. Like housework, managing change is something you need to keep working on.
In 2001, Eastern Touring Agency was at a point of transition. The organisation had been built, very successfully, by a small team of influential individuals. However, as people moved on, the direction of the organisation became unclear and its organisational ?life-cycle? as a touring agency had come to a close. The shifting emphasis of programme activity required a renewed vision, approach and style of leadership. Ahead lay a challenge to transform the organisation internally and find a new way of expressing itself externally.

Board member Sallyann Weston-Scales, former project manager for TXU Energi and now a change management consultant, played a crucial role during this period. Sallyann facilitated a number of internal workshops that helped us to define our values, mission, stakeholders and ?brand?. It was important for us to do this at an early stage, as it crystallised the team?s thoughts and laid the foundation for future actions. Sallyann?s starting point was one of engaging people in the process, communicating why change was necessary and explaining what would happen.

Informed directly by the diversity and inclusion agenda, there was disagreement internally about where the organisation was heading and how radical the change needed to be. Together with a philosophical debate, the human resources were the axis on which the change process rested, and much energy was directed towards building consensus. With an Organisational Development Programme we developed a learning culture that enabled us to factor in the time needed to make the changes. We made a conscious effort not to lose a sense of our heritage and partners, and this is reflected in our business plan.

We knew Eastern Touring Agency needed a new name and we decided to embark on this quest ourselves. All members of staff and board took part and contributed ideas focusing on the company?s redefined mission. At times, we appreciated why so many companies choose to hire consultants. It was difficult work and we had to keep reminding ourselves to step out of our own shoes and into those of our stakeholders and clients.

After eliminating the unsuitable (and the ridiculous), we whittled down our list of potential names to about ten and then sent it to key partners and clients, requesting feedback. As an organisation focused on service-delivery, this stage was exceptionally helpful: everyone provided thoughtful responses and two clear favourites emerged. We eventually chose ?Momentum? because it spoke of our vision of helping others to achieve their goals.

These external representations of our change were accompanied by wholesale change within. A revised company structure, new company handbook, a revised board recruitment strategy, new policies and working practices, redeveloped project design and application, even new filing and database systems were developed. By July 2003 we had a new name, logo and visual identity and a new business plan mapping our future aims and objectives. We believe the name and visual identity really work as an external expression of an internal value system.

At Momentum Arts we have learnt that the best way to approach change is to redefine leadership as a team-orientated effort and to keep re-creating systems and ways of working that can bend to accommodate shifting contexts. Our new programme areas (diversity, inclusion, promoters? network and initiatives) theme our activities and make it easier to explain what we do, without restricting future growth and development.

Kim and Aggie would be proud of us. Not only do we do a little bit of housework every day but we?ve even dusted in and under the clock on the mantelpiece, not just around it!

Sara Phillips is Marketing Manager at Momentum Arts.
e: sara@momentumarts.org.uk