How to manage change successfully

Fundamentals of successful change management

The overall success of a change initiative depends upon the ability to proactively identify and manage cultural and organizational problems

S enior managers tend to find project deliverables not appropriately incorporated into routine business practices. Change management aims to address such issues and helps managers and employees deal with the stress of changing environments and responsibilities. The acceptance and adoption of change are different for every person and understanding how to have a positive influence on team members and key stakeholders will help decision-makers relate to them on a one-to-one basis and lead organizations to successful change initiatives. In an increasingly volatile and competitive business world, it’s vital to have the right tools and techniques to maximize an organization’s ability to change and enhance performance.

Change management focuses on ensuring that change initiatives produce intended outcomes. Change managers work with senior leaders to select disciplines that successfully manage change within organizations, ensuring effective and efficient communication with staff members and the delivery of the needed training. Change managers also make sure the impacts associated with a change are identified and managed with a focus on the business and people who will be affected.

I. Fundamentals of change

C hange management is about owning and directing the change journey. Change management is about understanding corporate strategy and its relationship with the people. It’s about communicating with everyone from senior executives in the office to the lower-level employees such as the construction workers in the field. Change management focuses on designing education with an understanding of human nature, and what makes employees nervous and enthusiastic. It also involves understanding how employee roles change as organizations change, and it ensures this is managed smoothly and proactively.

The overall strategies to change management include:

Personalizing change

While change managers are fostering change at a group or organization level, the change process is an individual experience. Make sure you don’t project your perceptions of change onto others. They’re unlikely to process change the same way you do. Here are some tips for personalizing change for others:

Getting personal about change

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The mass personalization of change: Large-scale impact, one individual at a time

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Managing ambiguity

To control the related ambiguity associated with change projects, consider the following tips:

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Categories of organizational change

In organizations, whether the private or public sectors, change is a strategic driver of performance. Along with individual and procedural changes, clear and culturally value-based and strategic change initiatives are vital for organizations to survive. Such initiatives can often be big complex projects and need to be managed with care. There are three categories of organizational change projects:

II. Phases of change management

No matter what the scale of a change initiative, there are five distinct phases

The four building blocks of change

Large-scale organizational change has always been difficult, and there’s no shortage of research showing that a…

Formulation and refinement

First, you must form the compelling reasons for change, otherwise, you’ll get few people engaging with you.

Once change formulation and refinement steps are done, real work begins.

Planning

When creating a change plan, highlight what will change but place equal weight on what won’t change as it’s often the stable pieces that help staff through a period of change. With this in mind:

Early examples

You don’t have to be perfect to start, but you have to start to be perfect. Set up a prototype for a test environment to demonstrate an early example of change can be powerful for change initiatives, helping the change team and staff who are trying to understand and respond to the change.

Implementation and support

Good support is vital in change management otherwise staff relationships will not be happy ones.

Reinforce and adjust

Organizational change should not be viewed as the movement of a chess piece from one square to another. Instead, I like to think of change being like an item attached to an elastic band. You have to move and then hold your piece in place, resisting the pull of the elastic until it stretches out and goes slack. Depending on the change, this can take days, months, and in the most extreme cases, years.

To manage change after implementation, be ready to consistently reinforce and adjust the change, resisting pressures to go back to traditional forms of business, while ensuring business outcomes are being met.

Mon 26th September 2011

You’ve gone through the checklist at least a dozen times: equipment, software,
training venue, lunch breaks, light refreshments. But it doesn’t matter how well you plan for change, not everyone will be comfortable with it and it is likely that you will face some resistance from your team.

As a leader or manager, your role is to guide your team through the change process, reducing resistance wherever possible and increasing enthusiasm and commitment for it. These tips offer practical advice to help you identify and overcome resistance to change, in order to give the change effort the best possible chance of success.

It is important to be aware of how your team are reacting to any change. Remember that people respond to change in different ways, and reactions will occur at different times. Look out for signs that people in your team are not coping well with change. For example, they might be feeling shocked, confused, helpless, and frustrated.

Keep the lines of communication open. Effective and timely communication will help to reduce uncertainty during the initial stages of any change process. Rather than leaving people to find their way without guidance or support, ensure that you keep your team as up to date as possible with the changes.

A good way to do this is to have regular meetings and briefings. Your team will then know exactly where the change process is going, what the next steps are, how they will be affected, and the positive contribution they can make.

In additional to your regular meetings, you should be available for anyone in your team to talk to you about any aspect of the change process. Try be as approachable as you can, as this will help people feel more secure knowing they can discuss their feelings and concerns with you.

If people are showing resistance, it is important that you listen to their concerns and show empathy for how they are feeling. Explaining the change process and why it needs to happen can help to overcome negative reactions. Focus on the problems with the current situation and outline the benefits that the change process will.

Obviously healthy scepticism can be good, so try to keep in mind that not all negativity is a bad thing. It is unlikely that your change programme will be perfect, and people should be encouraged to give feedback and suggest improvements. Healthy scepticism is important. This type of feedback vets the change idea or process so that it can be improved upon along the road to becoming reality.

However you must strike a balance between healthy scepticism towards change, and hostility. If one or two people are very outspoken and averse to the change, you must address this at an early stage. Otherwise, this attitude could spread throughout the rest of your team.

Even if you are not feeling totally committed to the change, you must be a positive role model and project a positive outlook to your team. They will take their cues from how you behave, so don’t show any negativity or uncertainty about the change. And remember that observational learning is very powerful, so demonstrating that you believe and ‘buy into’ the change process is a good way of combating negativity from your team. Why not get stuck into helping implement the changes within your team? Get involved in the detailed aspects of the change, side-by-side with your team.

To help your team adapt to change, you will need to help them see and think differently. Motivate your team through this phase by helping them stay focused on the end goal, and painting a positive picture of the end result. You must give your team support in adopting any new working practices. This could be training sessions on new work processes, and developing written guidance or standard operating procedures for your team to refer to. Get your team involved wherever possible, and allow them to make their own decisions about how the changes will for them.

Don’t rush your team through the process of change, but give them time to work through and accept the process of change. People will not become comfortable with the change overnight, so take time to ensure that the changes are embedded fully. During any change process, mistakes are common, and this might affect the performance of your team. This is quite normal, and you should allow your team the to experiment with, and apply new ideas.

Having enough time to adapt is important, so build in as much time as you can. Have weekly meetings to give updates on progress, share best practice and brainstorm for new ideas and solutions to problems. Your team members may need more support than is immediately apparent. They may become frustrated if ideas don’t work perfectly, so talk to them regularly about their concerns and continue to offer reassurance and support. You could also help them to find new methods for coping with specific difficulties, such as seeking out (both internal and external) sources of expertise.

Once you have reached the end of the change process, it is important to stop and reflect on the experience as a team. This will help you focus on key learning points which can be put into practice for any future change initiatives. It will also strengthen the team as a cohesive unit. Ask your team to reflect upon their own performance throughout the change process, and to consider what they might do differently next time. You should also do this yourself. Remember to get feedback from your team on how you led and supported them throughout the period of change.

Managing change successfully

Overcome resistance through strategy, communications, and patience.

It’s often said that the only thing constant in life is change. In today’s organizations, this has never been more evident, as leaders navigate ever-accelerating change in standards, technology, mobility, succession, consolidation, the global economy, cultural values, and more.

To successfully manage change, organizational leaders must strategically design, execute, and communicate their change strategy with the same focus and intent that they spend conceiving of the change. If they don’t invest in this effort and carefully coordinate change implementation, they run the risk that the planned change will fail.

To successfully effect change, leaders must:

This article focuses on the most important and often overlooked elements that drive change success: change strategy and communications.

CHANGE STRATEGY AND PLANNING

Leaders must work together to develop a clear and unified change strategy, an approach to implementation, and a communications plan to drive the intended change. Ideally, leaders will meet to discuss and document their answers to the what, why, who, when, and how of change by answering the following questions:

What change is coming or is expected?

Why is the change occurring and what factors are driving the change? What benefits will it produce?

The intent or motives behind the change can truly make or break change acceptance. To effectively drive change, consider these five factors that affect acceptance as identified by Everett Rogers, a technology change management expert who coined the term “early adopter.” People are more likely to change when they:

Believe they will gain an advantage or benefit personally from the change. To help others accept change, leaders must answer their unspoken question: “When I change, what will I gain or what’s in it for me?” For instance, when a midsize firm merges with a larger, regional firm, the smaller firm’s people must believe that the change will benefit them. Potential benefits might include being able to more effectively compete for larger engagements because of the more recognized brand of the larger firm, gaining access to better benefits, or having more confidence in the larger entity’s ability to absorb significant upcoming retirements expected in the midsize firm.

Compare the change to their current state and identify similarities. To change, people need to relate expected new behaviors or actions to something they are familiar with. For example, when a finance department relocates to another part of the city, leaders should compare the staff commutes to the new office with the old office commutes and then be prepared to communicate the differences and similarities to the staff and proactively address any disappointments from those whose commutes would be lengthened.

Understand the change despite its complexity. People will accept change when it is communicated in simple terms or broken down into smaller ideas or steps that can be more easily grasped—and therefore acted upon—than a complex or big undertaking. For example, when an organization moves to a self-service client portal, the initial change can be complex to understand. Break down the expected actions into steps that clients can take, such as establishing their user profile, name, and password as the first “call to action.” Provide follow-up steps only after the clients take the first step. That way, clients aren’t overwhelmed with all the instructions at once.

Test the change. Form a pilot test group to allow a smaller group to work through the change before asking a broader group to do so. This allows issues and objections to be identified and resolved, smoothing the way for those less comfortable with change. Rolling out significant change with a pilot program allows those affected to feel that they can still have input on the change, and they don’t expect everything to be perfect yet, causing acceptance of small bumps that occur along the way. For example, when a firm implements a new outsource CFO/controllership service, identifying a small number of internal service personnel to act as the first group to sell and deliver the service—and choosing one or two clients with whom to test the service—enables a firm to engage a small number of people in the less-efficient “on the job learning” that can then be applied to a larger, more effective rollout.

Learn of others who have had success with the change. Seeing or hearing about people or organizations that already have made the intended change successfully can provide powerful assurance to those uncertain about the change. For example, when asking a group of firm leaders to move to a new departmental structure, sharing case studies or articles or referring to other groups that have successfully made this organizational change can help those affected feel more confident in the change being proposed.

Who is affected and how so? Who is leading the change?

Which groups or individuals does the change affect and in what ways? When forming the answers to this question, leaders must consider all stakeholders in their organization, including:

Who is responsible for leading which aspects of the change? Whom should constituents see with questions or concerns for which elements of the change? Who will lead which aspects when the change has been implemented?

When and how will the change occur, and when and how will the change communications occur?

What timing is expected for the change? Which groups are affected in which ways over that time frame?

How will the change be implemented? Which people, systems, processes, procedures, or other management structures will change, how will they change, and when will that change occur for each?

When will each group be notified of the change? When planning the timing of communications, consider first informing the organization’s biggest stakeholders and those responsible for answering the questions of others, giving them plenty of time to ask questions and absorb the change before they are expected to drive the change with other constituents. For instance, when announcing a new department head, the leaders within that department and then the team members assigned to that department should be told first, before the announcement is made firmwide or to clients.

How will constituents be informed of the change? The more impactful or significant the change, the more crucial that the communications be made live and, when possible, in person. For example, when announcing the appointment of a new CEO, a companywide meeting, webcast, or conference call is most appropriate.

EXECUTION IS KEY

When the change strategy and communications plan is developed, firm leaders must execute the communications plan and then follow through on all of the elements of the change implementation process. A failure to keep their commitments or execute as planned may be construed as a lack of commitment to the change and could leave an opening for those resisting the change to delay their own adoption.

Firm leaders must also remember that everyone embraces change differently. Some love change because they are motivated by variety, challenge, or opportunity. Others resist change because they are more cautious or they fear losing something. It is easy to make those who naturally resist change wrong. Some leaders even choose to exclude late adopters and laggards from the change process, keeping the change “quiet” and not including them in change planning meetings.

Smart leaders realize, though, that those who resist change often identify gaps in strategy and raise objections that must be addressed. When people who naturally resist change become a part of the change-agency group and participate in the rollout, their buy-in increases the credibility of the change process.

Meaningful, successful change starts in the “small room” with a group of thoughtful leaders. When next faced with change, identify those most willing to change and enroll them in developing and then executing the change strategy and communications plan. As cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Leaders must collaborate to craft a clear and unified change management strategy. Leaders need to understand the nature of the change, the reasons for it, and the effects it will have on the organization.

Develop a cohesive and targeted communications strategy. Craft specific messages for each group of stakeholders and deliver them at the proper time in the appropriate format. Also, ensure that those opposed to the change have their concerns heard.

Understand how the change will affect stakeholders, and address them appropriately. Acknowledge potential drawbacks, and proactively engage stakeholders who might be negatively affected.

Use pilot programs to test the change with a trial group. The test will help identify potential problems.

Establish a timeline for the change implementation and communications. Define when, how, and where the change will occur, and communications will commence.

Jennifer Wilson ( jen@convergencecoaching.com ) is a partner with ConvergenceCoaching LLC in Omaha, Neb.

To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Jeff Drew, senior editor, at jdrew@aicpa.org or 919-402-4056.

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How to Manage Successful Change

“The only constant in life is change.”

In our HR world, the complexity and rate of change is compounded every year with significant disruptions across industries and business functions. A few drivers include new customer and employee expectations, technological advances, fierce competition from anywhere, and increasing skills-gaps in our organizations.

Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin by Deloitte, recently shared his point of view with me about HR related changes.

“I believe HR’s biggest challenge in 2018 will be the shift from thinking about HR solutions to productivity. Organizations around the world are shifting their business models to digital, always-on, service-centric customer solutions, and this is forcing companies to flatten the organization, create more dynamic roles, and reskill people faster than ever. HR’s role in all this is to design and facilitate productive people practices that make the ‘digital business organization’ work. This is quite a change from traditional HR thinking.”

[bctt tweet=”HR’s role is to design & facilitate people practices that make the digital business org. work” username=”Josh_Bersin”]

Performance Management Change Insights from Reflektive

One advantage of collaborating with Rachel when thinking about managing successful change is she’s an innovative HR leader, active user of Reflektive’s real-time performance management platform, and peer-advisor for Reflektive customers.

Two questions that ideally precede any change management initiative include:

Essentially, the team needs to understand and agree on the current state – including problems, opportunities and risks – and what success looks like across all impacted processes and teams. After a thoughtful assessment, Rachel recommends applying a performance management change model that includes the following components:

Why Performance Management Change Now?

There are several obvious reasons for making performance management program changes: 1) the annual performance management model is ineffective for our real-time, digital business environment; 2) today’s workforce expects more real-time coaching and recognition; 3) skills gaps will continue to widen in an environment of significant disruption and growth if we don’t focus on developing talent in creative ways.

[bctt tweet=”HR must take a broader view of talent development — a more holistic employee development experience.” username=”schoolcw”]

I recently reached out to Claire Schooley, an independent consultant and former Forrester Research analyst, about HR trends to watch in 2018. Schooley said, “HR staff must take a broader view of talent development. This means looking at a more holistic employee development experience. This includes helping employees develop the skills they need for their job but also working on career development, workplace design, recognition, learning and development, and retention. And, we must not forget well-being including employees’ physical, financial and emotional health. It’s a tall order but in today’s environment, organizations that are embracing these areas are finding greater employee engagement and longer employee retention.”

The Change Management Blog

Home » Change Management » How to Successfully Manage Change and Fuel Digital Growth

How to Successfully Manage Change and Fuel Digital Growth

In the digital age, many change managers want to know how to successfully manage change.

This is an important topic, because change management is changing.

Today, change management has evolved to include:

Among other things.

Tackling change in today’s economy can be complicated and difficult.

However, it is possible.

The steps outlined below represent an easy-to-follow, step-by-step approach.

How to Successfully Manage Change in the Digital Age

Below are 7 steps you can follow to initiate, manage, and implement change in today’s digitizing workplace.

1. Assess Digital Maturity

The first step is assessing digital maturity.

That is, evaluate your organization’s digital capabilities:

This analysis can tell you where you stand currently and where you need to be.

Assessing your organization’s digital maturity level – as well as change readiness – is an essential stage.

It will help you succeed when you design a blueprint for change.

2. Design a Blueprint

A blueprint for change is your plan of action.

Base it on the assessments you created earlier.

With those assessments, you can:

A digital transformation program based on these guidelines will include:

A roadmap like this is essential for any change project … and is a prerequisite for the next step.

3. Build the Change System

Your change system should be based on the goals and milestones mentioned above.

It should include:

Your system – or framework – will guide your change project throughout its life cycle.

4. Train Your Workers

Employee training is a core element of any digital change program.

The reason is simple: employees need digital skills to be productive.

And the sooner you begin training, the better. In fact, if you start training before your program

Any new digital adoption program, for instance, involves new software, platforms, or tools.

The bottom line for most organizations is just that – the bottom line. And the more effectively an employee can learn to use software, the better his or her output.https://t.co/LkB2s6NFkO

How well employees learn those tools impacts:

And, ultimately, your change project’s results.

5. Fire Up the Digital Change Engine

After you design processes, build your systems, and train workers, it’s time to execute.

Here are a few tips for getting started:

As your change project moves forward, you will certainly come across obstacles to change.

That’s why you will need to…

6. Adjust Your Course

Consistently monitor analytics and identify problem areas.

The ability to adapt is essential during any change project … so don’t be afraid to change your own project if necessary.

Here are a few key characteristics of modern change programs:

As you move forward, continue to collect data and monitor progress.

7. Wrap Up

After your change project is complete, there are still a few things to take care of:

Finally, meet with stakeholders to have open discussions about the project. Answer lingering questions and address any issues they may have.

Final Thoughts

Anyone who wants to know how to successfully manage change can follow this general outline.

For best results, though, study up on:

The more modern your approach to change management, the better your outcomes will be – and the better your future outlook.