Change Management & Development

These themes run throughout Douglas’s work for public agencies on behalf of Strathclyde Business School, Deloitte and this practice, and are natural extensions of his earlier university teaching and research on organisational change and adaptation, but now applied to the real world. Douglas is convinced that real change is only achieved through changing peoples’ perceptions, cultures and skills, not by simply redrawing boxes in organograms. For successful outcomes, people need to ‘own’ the case for change.

In work for government departments and executive agencies Douglas has helped to influence legislation and policy in the areas of teacher education and transport organisation. With colleagues, he helped many significant public bodies to face up to change and the challenges of modernising processes, cultures and governance.

In work for local authorities his direct experience in holding senior posts at authority, Scottish and UK levels (and experience of change issues in other parts of the public sector) has allowed him to present the modernising agenda successfully to senior officers and elected members in departments, committees, councils and at national conferences. A major part of his responsibilities during his five years at the Scottish Local Authorities Management Centre was delivering Senior Management Development for many Scottish local authorities.