Change Management has become one of the most critical components for any business to remain competitive, adapt, and evolve, but also being resilient to embrace continuous change due to challenging market conditions.
The business world is rapidly changing and at a disrupted pace: technology evolution, customer market trends are changing, launch of new market regulation, supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and unprecedented global crises. Organisations that cannot adapt to change and scale their business model by securing growth opportunities in new markets are most likely to be left behind (and may foreclose), by their more AGILE competitors – that is why preparing for change should be one of your top priorities.
Change is constant and is a driving force for scalability. When it comes to Change Management, many organisations struggle but every organisation will undergo some sort of change transition to remain scalable and visible; it is why organisations are forced to drive change. It is a fundamental component for dealing with both the present and future business environment, by both adapting to and managing your change journey.
What is Change Management?
Change Management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organisation’s goals, core values and principles, processes, or technologies. The purpose of Change Management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change, and helping people to both accept and adapt to change.
Why is Change Management important?
Change is a human constant. The consequences of changes always affect people, who are an organisation’s main asset, and therefore it is crucial to have their support since people are reluctant to change (due to insecurity and uncertainty). A clear indicator of professional leadership is knowing how to manage change because your Executive Team need to function as “agents of change”.
At the organisational level, employees demonstrate their capability of dealing with new challenges and develop greater self-confidence, by simply being conscious of the need for organisational change. With the success of a change process, employee’s grow more committed to an organisation due to trust in your Executive Management Team and for creating an environment that generates a constant flow of information (and end-goal).
Being proactive in dealing with change, this will determine an organisation’s fluid ability to adopt a new process, project, or IT system (or not). Change Management helps to speed up business transformations and reduces issues that could affect the economic efficiency of a project, boosting internal relationships, building clear communication plans, and strengthens your employee’s sense of fulfilment and purpose.
What are the benefits of Change Management?
Change Management is NOT a reactive response if change happens; but more importantly, it is the preparation for WHEN change happens. Change Management allows you to assess your current situation and WHY change is needed, align your efforts and resources, and manage the integration elements of change.
When change is introduced in an organisation, it is often met with resistance from employee’s but when implemented correctly, change can bring significant benefits. Change Management should lead your employee’s, teams, departments, and entire organisation towards thriving to adapt and benefit from change, rather than simply reacting (negatively), and merely surviving – or even worse, seeing no results from the change efforts.
Change Management is an important process and includes seven (7) main benefits:
1. Improved leadership coaching and skills
Leadership coaching is part of the Change Management process and ideally help them become aware of the basics of Change Management. Furthermore, Change Management involves teaching leadership ‘soft’ skills, which can help improve the overall leadership skills of Managers and Executives in the organisation and this provides them with new tools (and builds awareness) that will help them in their daily staff management.
2. Facilitate better communication and planning
Change Management ’best practice’ ensures that a thorough Communication Plan keeps everyone updated about the progress of their Change Project – what is happening? what to expect? When employees are properly informed about changes, it promotes better communication channels throughout the organisation. The benefits of the planning phase are that an organisation can learn to communicate better, after going through the Communication Plan designed to facilitate a Change Management project.
3. Improved process for decision-making
Change Management establishes a clear process for decision-making when it comes to making changes and helps to ensure that everyone “buys-in” to the new culture. Uncertainty about the future of their organisation can cause stress for employee’s – increased workload, obsolete skill sets, vague expectations, or worse still, no job! That is why Change Management puts the human factor at the centre of the proposed changes to minimise stress by providing clarity and structure.
4. Improved employee morale creates a ‘team purpose’
The need for change means the whole organisation goes through Change Management together, which can lead to a sense of shared purpose as everyone’s focal point is in making the Change Project a success. When employee’s feel like they are part of the change process and that their concerns are being heard, it can boost employee morale and help to create a more positive work environment; a ‘team purpose’ reduces friction and improves interpersonal relationships.
5. Uncovers organisational problems and improve productivity
Change Management requires everyone in an organisation to pull together, focus on the bigger picture, and move towards a common goal. With a clear plan of action in place for how changes will be implemented, employees can focus on their day-to-day- duties and rather than worrying about what is going on around them.
Disruption to normal work activities often causes stress, confusion, and negativity. Whilst it may not be comfortable at the time, it is beneficial to uncover employee issues that need to be immediately addressed and for an organisation to be ready to grow and move forward.
6. Enhances creativity, innovation, and opportunity
Organisations that embrace innovation benefit from Change Management. It helps an organisation’s employees to understand how to go through a change successfully, which leads to a culture of innovation (and excitement) to meet the upcoming future challenges. With any change comes opportunity and this helps to unleash the creativity of employees, as they explore new ways to do things.
7. Creates new business opportunities
The ability to embrace Change Management will continually help your organisation to find and nurture new business opportunities. By having different change strategies, this will help any business move forward into new areas brought about by their new ways of working. While the short-term effects of change can sometimes be painful, dealing with change in the workplace can have a positive impact on a business’s success.
Summary
Simply by asking the question – “WHY?” – can lead to innovative ideas, can answer other questions, and in turn, can create new innovations.
Without change, organisations would lose their competitive edge and fail to meet the ever-changing needs of their customers. An organisation benefits from change and that results in new ways of strengthening customer interactions, customer needs (and service), new ways of delivering customer service, and new products that might attract new markets.
More importantly, organisations need to evaluate their employee’s capabilities, training, and on-going development, and then take steps to fill the gaps between current skills v. future skills (required to respond to opportunities for growth). To successfully manage employee’’ transition from “resistance to commitment”, the change needs to be internally led by Key Stakeholders from inside the organisation.
For organisations to realise the full benefits from Change Management, your Executive Team needs to not only focus on managing employee’s behaviour and skills, but their commitment to help deliver successful change implementation.
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