What is organisational change?
Organisational change occurs when a business transitions core elements of its strategy or operations. There are usually two types of change:
- Adaptive change: This type of change is often small and part of the business evolving with its time. It includes incremental alterations, adaptations and fine-tuning of the organisation’s technologies, strategy or processes.
- Transformational change: Transformational changes are more significant and have a larger impact on the business. They represent a shift in direction that can be implemented to tackle external pressures that the business might be subject to.
Organisational change is a journey the business goes through to alter what it feels needs to evolve to survive and thrive. As such, organisational change may result in a culture shift, the implementation of technology solutions, changes in internal organisational structure or even the business’ values. The type of change will define the effort required and the associated change management process.
Why is resistance to change so common?
Rare are the people who enjoy change. The process of changing, even for the better, requires effort, new skills and new habits. Employees are often caught up in their day-to-day job. Change implemented by the business will add to their workload and might lead to frustration. Resistance to change is natural and should be anticipated by those implementing the change.
Managers implementing even small changes should understand the impact that the change will have on employees and should familiarise themselves with organisational change management processes. Indeed, in order to be effective, managing organisational change needs to follow specific steps that will aim at tackling resistance and will promote the change to lead to its adoption by all. People cling on to their routines. To shake off their habits and change their behaviours or ways of working, managers need to ensure that their plan involves sufficient communication, reassurance and opportunities for employees to express themselves.
To manage resistance, some businesses use negotiation or even rewards. There are many techniques, tools and strategies to lead to successful change. When it comes to change management, what is crucial to remember is that change is difficult but resisting change is even harder.
Tips to manage organisational change
There are some dos and don’ts when it comes to change management. Below are some tips for leaders looking to implement big or small changes within their business.
Grasp the impact of the change and understand the process of change
All change initiatives are different and have a variety of impacts on the workforce. To ensure businesses are successful when implementing change, they need to fully understand the starting point and where they want the end point to be. This means that they need to have a clear view of the desired outcome and the gap between the end goal and the current state of play. By doing so, they should be able to measure the size of the change.
Study change and understand its forces
Something that might seem like a simple update to some might be a drastic change for others. We are not equal to change. This should be fully understood by the change manager in charge of the project to ensure they do not minimise the impact of the change. Understanding why the change is necessary is critical. It will lead to a better understanding of what is driving the change and the internal pressures around it. For the change manager in charge, having in-depth knowledge of change management methodologies, basics of behavioural science and empathy will go a long way.
Make people the focus
Putting employees at the centre of the change often results in successful change management. People need to feel empowered by the change. This will make them embrace it rather than resist it. By involving employees, getting senior sponsor buy-in or generally making it about the people, the change leader will manage to sustain the momentum necessary throughout the process.
Have a thorough change management plan
Change should not be improvised. Having a thorough plan will help with the overall project management of the change. This is what is called change management planning. Its content should include the different tasks that need to take place, the timeline and the owners of the tasks. It is recommended that the project lead reviews this document on a regular basis to go through the actions that have taken place or need to take place. Through this process, it is essential to understand and highlight dependencies between actions. The change management plan is a critical roadmap for successful change.
Connect your change management planning with a communication strategy
Successful change management requires a wealth of communication. When leading significant change, it is essential to emphasise communication to employees and utilise different channels to do so. As such, it is best practice to connect a communication plan with the change management plan. The communication plan focusses solely on the communications, the channels used, the content of the coms, the style, the audience and the timing of delivery. Often, cascaded communications are used, starting with senior leaders who endorse the project and cascading through all levels of management of the business to emphasise the message and demonstrate unity.
Anticipate potential roadblocks
We have already highlighted that resistance to change is natural. No matter how good the change management plan is, the project team should expect some resistance from the workforce. This reluctance to change should be addressed with transparency and honesty. In addition to resistance, there might be other types of roadblocks such as system errors, technology implementation delays and much more. Some buffer should be incorporated in the plan to absorb the time lost on these roadblocks. Having flexibility will make for a smoother implementation.
Empower employees and give them a voice
Employees are often at the heart of change. They are the ones affected by it and expected to adopt it. Empowering them by involving them throughout the process will ensure their voices are heard. Additionally, it will give valuable insight to the project team and might result in some adjustments to the plan. To involve employees, you can create surveys and seek feedback or identify representatives of different departments who can be the voice for their colleagues. To drive meaningful change, the objective and the importance of the change should be conveyed. This means that there is a fine balance between empowering employees while mobilising the workforce with a sense of urgency.
For more on communication and employee voice, take a look at our content below:
Ensure senior sponsor buy-in
Leaders should set the example and adopt the change without resistance. In fact, their involvement should go beyond simple acceptance. Successful changes are driven by active and visible leadership teams who position themselves as senior sponsors of the project. Involving leadership teams and educating them on the value of the change will enable the change lead to drive the change effectively. For this, senior sponsors of the change should be involved right from the beginning, they should be fully visible to the workforce and should promote the value of the change.
Promote the change and make it exciting
To be adopted by all, the change should have an undeniable purpose. Make the reason of the change clear to employees and match it with the organisation’s values. When presenting the change, make it exciting and demonstrate that it is an essential step forward. Having enthusiasm is often contagious. It will lead to stronger employee engagement.
Keep the momentum going
Some change processes can take a long time to deliver. When this is the case, it is often difficult to keep the momentum going. Change managers understand that there are highs and lows in the process. To tackle them, they celebrate the successes when they are there and utilise them to fuel momentum. During lows, they evaluate their communication strategies, collect employee feedback and build trust.
Managing organisational change is a process that can be challenging. Successful changes are those that are structured and that empower employees. However, change is inevitable for organisations to stay in the game and evolve with their time. Those that are able to implement smooth changes will succeed.
