What are the drivers of organizational change in your organization? Whether your business is preparing for a technological shake-up — like adopting a blockchain platform — or wants to increase its resiliency against volatile economic conditions, it is critical that you adequately prepare your team.
Let’s examine five organizational change management strategies that work and four pitfalls that you must avoid if you want an initiative to succeed.
First, let’s focus on five organizational change management techniques that will help you implement your new technology or processes with ease:
If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. You should never make a change for the sake of change.
Before investing in a major change, build a case that supports any significant investment of time, human capital, and resources. If you can build a compelling business case first, getting stakeholders and team members on board will be much easier.
If you decide a change is worthwhile, create a detailed game plan. Your plan should outline:
It may take several attempts to create your finalized plan. Start with a rough outline and then double back to address any gaps in your strategy.
Communication is an oft-overlooked component of organizational change management. If you want your transition to go smoothly, communicate systematically with stakeholders, vendors, and employees.
Your communication strategy should outline what information you share, who you relay it to, and when you distribute it. Be as transparent as possible, but be careful not to overwhelm your audience with too much information too soon.
Getting your team involved in the process from day one is critical. Once you have decided a change is needed, schedule a meeting with department heads and mid-level managers. Gather feedback and allow each team member to discuss the issue from their point of view.
Bringing your team into the mix early will promote better buy-in. They can also provide their unique perspectives and shed light on potential challenges you might have overlooked.
Impactful changes don’t occur overnight. Changing your technology stack, migrating to a new platform, or revamping mission-critical workflows could take months. Organizational change management is a marathon, not a sprint.
That said, dividing an enormous, daunting task into more manageable milestones is essential. When you reach one of these checkpoints, celebrate it and recognize your progress. Doing so can keep your leadership and employees motivated to finish the transition.
Approximately two-thirds of change initiatives fail. While there are many reasons for failure, a few underlying mistakes tend to be responsible for or contribute to most change initiative derailments.
If you want to avoid undermining your change efforts:
Inevitably, some of your team members will be resistant to change. Don’t chalk this up to the cost of doing business. Instead, proactively work to reduce internal pushback by keeping your team in the loop from the moment you decide to implement new tech or rework organizational processes.
When you involve your team early and often, you can maximize buy-in and minimize friction.
When you adopt a new system like a blockchain platform, everyone will eventually get on board, right? Not necessarily.
While sunsetting your old solution will force your employees to use the new one, they will only make the most of its tools and capabilities if you address issues like training and workplace culture.
Once you get your team excited about an upcoming change, never let your foot off the gas. With that in mind, it is critical that you precisely time every aspect of your organizational change management strategy. The last thing you want to do is get everyone excited about a new tech tool only to go silent on the topic for months.
Waiting until the last moment to make a change sets your organization up for failure. When everyone feels the pressure of a tight deadline, they are likelier to cut corners and rush through essential steps. The result is a bumpy transition that leaves your team longing for old tools and processes.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to implementing meaningful business change. Fortunately, you can set the stage for a successful transition by leveraging these established organizational change management strategies.
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