Change management is a process that can make your organisation transition smoothly to the next stage of its development. At some point, you will reach the position where your policies, processes and infrastructure will need review in order for them to continue to meet your organisation’s requirements.
You do not want the performance of your organisation and its people to plateau, and the answer to avoiding this frustration is to have an established change management process in place. If you fail to do this, then it is unlikely that your old thinking will magically bring new results.
Successful implementation of change initiatives is built on the identification of the beginning “current state”, and the final “desired future state” of the specific area requiring change. Between these two points, the change management process covers three stages.
1 Identification of the Change
The first step is to identify the need for change, and communicate it throughout the whole of your organisation at all relevant levels. The communication process may need to take people out of their daily routines by using targeted meetings to create a shared sense of urgency for change, and to highlight the change message. Demonstration of a compelling vision of what the future will look like when the change is implemented will add credibility to the change proposal.
2 Engagement of your People
Having communicated the need for change, your next step is to engage people in planning for the organisation’s response to the change. People must be allowed an opportunity to show their reaction to the desired change, which the management can assess for potential areas of sensitivity that will need to be considered in future actions. You may wish to use a workshop environment to gather feedback in these areas. Are your people aligned to the organisation’s objectives within the proposed change? These workshops are often most effective when supported by an external facilitator.
3 Implementation of the Change
Once change strategies have been developed during the Identification and Engagement stages, you are able to translate them into plans and actions, for moving toward the desired future state. Again, people are vital to how processes in this area are created and implemented. Having been properly trained in the tools and methodologies involved, they will gain the knowledge that allows them to customise approaches for the most effective results. Management and leaders need to ensure that all required skill sets are embedded within teams involved in the change areas.
At the end of the change process, where the desired future state has been reached, full evaluation of what has been undertaken should be carried out, and any identified improvements documented for future change cycles.
If you would like to find out more about how our IiE experts can help you overcome your change management challenges, talk to us now.