Change management is a difficult and demanding process to pursue within an organisational context, not least because employees often find it difficult coping with change. This article seeks to provide some clear practical tips for managing the change management process.
Encourage Employee Participation
One of the major employee concerns related to organisational change is fear of the unknown. Employees want to know whether their job is safe and how change will physically impact upon their day to day work life.
The biggest problem is that organisations regularly fail to recognise these concerns, but a good management team will encourage employees to participate in the process through focus groups and by consulting with and involving employees in the change management plans. This encourages ownership of the change process by employees which in turn reduces resistance to change and enables the process to move more swiftly.
Clear Communication
Management should seek to produce and distribute evidence to support change. If employees understand the reasons behind the changes then they are more likely to respond positively. Don't presume staff are unwilling to change. If for example the organisation is making losses and changes to operating procedures are required to ensure that ob losses don't occur, then most staff are likely to embrace changes to secure long term stability.
Appoint a Change Champion
Change Champions are simply individuals who are tasked with driving forward or championing, the change process. They need to be charismatic, approachable individuals with an ability to win over sceptics. This person can either be a respected employee from within the organisation or an experienced external candidate , but the most important factor is that they must be committed to the change process.
Timetable for Change
Producing a timetable for change is essential so that employees understand that is a carefully considered process rather than a knee jerk reaction to market events. Good planning and clear communication to staff of the timetable will ensure a smooth change process.
Copy examples of good practice
Organisations shouldn't feel that they have to reinvent the wheel each time that they implement a change program. Look for examples of good practice from previous successful change management programmes, both within or external to, the organisation. Use these examples to inform your change management plan.
Recruit Expertise in Change Management.
If it is the first major change management program that has been undertaken within the organisation, consider either hiring in expertise in the form of a management consultant or recruit an experienced change manager to implement the process. Whilst this may seem expensive in the short term, this should be contrasted with the cost of loss of productivity and de-motivation of staff caused by a badly managed change programme.
Don't change too many things at once
Employees need time to adjust to change so avoid changing too many things at once as this will lead to greater anxiety within the workforce, which is likely to negatively effect performance and productivity. Having a flexible timetable for change will enable a phased approach to change management to be adopted .
Consider a pathfinder change programme first.
This simply means trialling the change process in one area of the business or location first. It is referred to as a pathfinder programme because you can monitor the effectiveness of the change and use it as a guide for the rest of the organisation. Adjustments can be made before you roll out the wholesale change programme within the wider organisational context.
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