Can you recall a time when your boss walked in and delivered news of some big change in your organization?
Perhaps it was restructuring, change in management, change in company policy, or a transition away from your favorite software.
How did that news make you feel? Chances are that you did not like it. If changes do not appeal to you, you are not alone. In fact, 62% of people do not like change. I personally find change quite unsettling.
But change is a constant in a business environment. No organization can afford to remain static. There are always new business goals to meet, better ways of doing things, and external changes to adapt to.
For example, it was change that took Lego from $800 million in debt in 2003 to a net profit of $1.94 billion in 2021. To accomplish this turnaround, Lego embarked on a massive digital transformation project. Lego’s reinvention has seen it transition from physical toy products to increasingly concentrating on bridging the gap between physical and virtual experiences.
So how does a business bring about change even though 62% (theoretically, at least) of its employees are against change?
Since changes are such a big deal for organizations, they need to be handled in a structured and systematic way, and that’s what change management does.
In this blog post, I will introduce the concepts of change management, its principles, processes, and best practices.
So read on to learn how you can implement a robust change management process in your organization.
What Is Change Management?
Change management is a system of dealing with transitions and transformations in an organization’s systems, processes, and technologies. At the core of change management is the theory that change doesn’t happen in isolation. Any change happening in an organization impacts parts of or the entire organization in one way or another.
The goal of change management is to minimize the number and impact of changes and transitions upon services. To ensure minimal disruption, change management ensures efficient and prompt handling of changes and transitions using standardized methods and procedures.
In an organizational setup, changes may arise due to a variety of reasons. These may be internal such as in response to problems, improving efficiency, or new business initiatives. Or they may be external such as regulatory requirements, changes in market or business conditions, etc.
Given that businesses constantly deal with changes, an effective change management strategy is necessary to ensure that the complex matrix of processes, systems, and employees within the organization is not affected adversely by the change or transition.
Change management equips an organization with processes for planning and testing, communicating, scheduling and implementing, documenting changes, and evaluating their effects. This robust system enables the organization to confidently bring about changes in a controlled manner while helping its employees to seamlessly adapt to the changes.
Benefits Of Change Management
Systematic management of transitions using change management offers many benefits. Here are a few of them:
Reduction in the risk of service disruption as an unintended consequence of changes,
Business continuity and maintenance of current working state,
Clear expectations set by better communication of changes and approval management,
Optimized use of resources as a result of effective change planning,
Reduction in the number of issues arising due to change execution,
Change management process is a prerequisite for regulatory compliance such as SOC2.
Principles Of Change Management
Effective change management is built on four core principles:
1. Understand Change
It is difficult to bring about change without understanding its underlying cause. Understanding the underlying cause that necessitated the change improves the organization’s ability to effectively address the cause and roll out the transition.
Here are some questions that help you to understand change:
Why does the organization need to change?
What are the key objectives of the change?
How will it impact the processes and people?
What will the people need to successfully achieve the change?
2. Plan Change
To achieve anything small or big in an organization, planning is necessary. The success of a change initiative is impossible without a detailed plan.
Here are some questions you will need answers to for developing an effective plan:
Who are the key stakeholders?
How can support and sponsorship for the change be secured?
What are the benefits of the change?
What would the successful implementation of the change look like?
3. Implement Change
There are many models for implementing planned change successfully. These models provide a framework or a starting point for implementation and are based on theories that describe the different stages of change management and their interaction with the various levels within the organization.
Here are a few examples of change management models:
4. Communicate Change
Like in any other project, in change management also, communication functions as a make-or-break component. Successful change management depends on effective communication with the stakeholders as well as within the team driving the change.
Clarity, transparency, and congruence of the communication with the organizational goals increase the likelihood of stakeholder buy-in and consequently the success of the project.
Key Steps Of A Change Management Process
Although the specifics vary depending on the framework or model used, change management processes largely consist of the following steps:
Identify What Needs To Change
Get Stakeholder Buy-in
Plan For The Change
Implement The Change
Document The Change
Communicate
Review Progress, Analyze, And Improve
In the following sections, we discuss each step in detail.
1. Identify What Needs To Change
Defining the scope or identifying exactly what needs to change is critical for successful change management. Clearly identifying the goal, the resources available, and the personnel involved helps to set expectations and establish accountability. Knowing what to improve sets a firm foundation for successful change implementation.
2. Get Stakeholder Buy-in
Active support from stakeholders is what separates successful change management programs from the rest. Engaging stakeholders across the various levels such as those who finance the change, champion it, or drive the adoption of the new normal is essential for a successful transition.
The stakeholders have their own expectations specific to their function or level in the organization. Clarity in addressing their expectations, frequent communication, and patience are crucial in getting a high level of buy-in from the stakeholders across the spectrum.
3. Plan For The Change
A well-planned journey begins with knowledge of the starting point, the destination, the route to be taken, and alternate routes for contingencies. So, your “roadmap” for change should include the scope, objective, resources available, and timeline at the very least.
A thorough plan includes, in addition to the “roadmap”, discrete steps and actions for the implementation, the team responsible for implementation, possible roadblocks, and contingency steps.
When it comes to change, multi-step or incremental changes are easier to implement than large, sweeping changes. Incremental changes allow room for testing, gathering data, analysis, and engaging stakeholders, who are directly impacted by the change.
4. Implement The Change
After a detailed plan is created, all that remains is to follow the steps outlined in the plan. A smooth implementation depends on
anticipating roadblocks and mitigating them,
communicating, constantly and consistently, the project goals and status, and
empowering employees to actively support the initiative and contribute to the achievement of the larger business goals.
5. Document The Change
Effective documentation collects all important project information in one place. It ensures that all of the information gathered during the previous steps and necessary for the continued success of the initiative are readily available.
Documentation ensures that the team understands how processes work and ensures consistency in the execution and results. Since all of the required information is readily available, teams feel empowered to work autonomously, avoid repetition, and improve efficiency as they don’t have to go searching for information.
6. Communicate
Communication is the thread that holds together the entire change management process. Clear and open communication throughout each step of the process is critical for the success of the change initiative.
Communication does not mean simply delivering project news to the organization but rather opening avenues for feedback, raising concerns and questions, and even venting frustration. A good change management program depends heavily on open two-way communication.
7. Review Progress, Analyze, And Improve
A change initiative, even if it is successful, is never really over. Analysis of the key performance indicators and investigation of the success or failure of the initiative gives the organization valuable insights and lessons that can be utilized in future change projects.
Even asking simple questions can lead to valuable insights. Think about:
To what degree were the project goals met?
What went wrong?
What went right?
What can be improved?
The insights and improvement opportunities are not restricted to the projects. Even the change management strategies themselves are often adjusted and improved.
The Secret Sauce For Effective Change Management
Changes are a necessary part of business but they are usually difficult and sometimes even painful to implement. It is quite normal that change initiatives face resistance. Sometimes the resistance fades away and at other times it can threaten the success of the initiative.
While open communication can help alleviate the fears surrounding change, there is a better strategy that increases the likelihood of success of change projects and change management programs in general. The key is to embed acceptance of change in the company culture and practices.
Here are a few ways for embedding acceptance of change:
Recognize milestones and achievements of change projects,
Recognize the success of teams and individuals involved in the change projects,
Reward successful change initiatives,
Involve people early on and engage them regularly,
Regularly seek inputs and feedback to increase acceptance.
Conclusion
Businesses need to constantly evolve in response to new challenges such as changes in technology, new competitors, new regulations, market trends, etc. A stagnant business is doomed to failure. In spite of this fact, organizational change initiatives are as likely to fail as to succeed.
Planning, coordinating, and implementing change are difficult and require concerted effort to ensure success. The key change management steps outlined above will help your organization develop a robust and consistent change management process. More importantly, the change management process will help minimize the negative impact of change on your organization and increase the likelihood of success of your change initiatives.
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About The Author
Hari SubediMarketing Manager at Jones IT
Hari is an online marketing professional with a focus on content marketing. He writes on topics related to IT, Security, Small Business, and Mindfulness. He is also the founder and managing director of Girivar Kft., a business services company located in Budapest, Hungary.