Change Management: What You Need To Know In Your Organisation

Change management may be defined as all approaches taken to prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making organizational change.  Change is a necessary aspect of all organizations to ensure staying relevant and competitive within the industry. The process of change management includes methods that redirect or redefine the use of resources, business processes, budget allocations, or other modes of operation that significantly change a company or organization.  In line with this, this article will highlight what you as an organization, will need to know whilst taking your organization through some major changes.

Change management begins from the top

Change can be a difficult process for people within the organization. In light of this, all employees are likely to depend on a push from the top structures within the organization for the change process to go well. 

Company leadership should, therefore, embrace the change process, to motivate the rest of the employees.  They must be united and implement the expected behaviors themselves. A united structure is most likely to succeed. This is because they are aligned towards a common purpose, which is the success of the organization. It is therefore imperative to adopt a top-down strategy in your change management process in ensuring the success of the transition process.

 

Make a formal case for the change management process

Human beings may at times be slaves to conservatism. Once people utilize a method that seemingly works for them, they become reluctant to change.  Individuals are innately rational and will question to what extent change is needed, whether the company is headed in the right direction, and whether they want to commit personally to making change happen.  These are questions that will need to be answered and they will look to the leadership for answers. There is, therefore, a need to make the business case for why the change process is needed in your organization.  This case must be articulate and it must leave your employees satisfied so that at the end of the day, they actively participate in the process. By following these 3 steps, you can be assured of making a convincing case to your employees:

• Confront reality and articulate a convincing need for change.
• Demonstrate faith that the company has a viable future and the leadership to get there.
• Provide a road map to guide behavior and decision making.

 

Assess your organizational culture and address it where need be

Successful change programs pick up speed and intensity as they cascade down, making it critically important that leaders understand and account for culture and behaviors at each level of the organization. Companies often make the mistake of assessing culture either too late or not at all. Thorough cultural diagnostics can assess organizational readiness to change, bring major problems to the surface, identify conflicts, and define factors that can recognize and influence sources of leadership and resistance.

 

These diagnostics identify the core values, beliefs, behaviors, and perceptions that must be taken into account for successful change to occur. They serve as the common baseline for designing essential change elements, such as the new corporate vision, and building the infrastructure and programs needed to drive change. By assessing these and knowing fully well where the issues are, you will be able to implement a successful change management process.

 

Implement the change management process

Figure 1: Kotter's Chanfe Model of Change Management

 

Kotter’s change management model is the most commonly used model in the change management process. The steps outlined in this model, if followed will ensure a smooth process that will leave the organization aligned and ready to achieve its goals.  

 

Common Challenges of Change Management

Due to ever-changing consumer expectations and the competition in the global economy, the science of organizational change is itself constantly changing and evolving. The human element of change management may be one of the most difficult to navigate because people do not like change or adjust to it well.

Most change methods agree that change is difficult and cumbersome. Therefore, involving people early on, implementing process, and continuously adjusting for improvement is critical to success. This includes thorough planning, buy-in, process, resources, communication, and constant evaluation.

 

Lindah Mavengere is a Business Consultant at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a business management and human resources consulting firm.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindah-mavengere-552b32b2/

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