Change is an inevitable part of life, and organizations are no exception. Change management is the systematic approach and application of knowledge, tools, and resources to deal with change. It involves defining and adopting corporate strategies, structures, procedures, and technologies to manage changes in external conditions and the business environment. At the organizational level, change management is a leadership competence to enable change within an organization.
It is also a strategic capacity designed to increase the organization's capacity for change and responsiveness. A change management plan can facilitate a smooth transition and ensure that your employees follow the change process. The harsh reality is that approximately 70 percent of change initiatives fail due to negative employee attitudes and unproductive management behavior. Using the services of a professional change management consultant could ensure that you are among the 30 percent winning. Ideally, leaders should also be managers, but the main responsibility of a manager is to know how to design, direct, and shape change processes. Kotter, professor at Harvard Business School and author of several books based on change management, developed a model for managing change.
Before adopting one of the many effective and popular change management approaches and models, an organization must first figure out why it needs the changes and how they will benefit them. It was developed by consultants working for McKinsey & Company in the 1980s and presents seven steps or stages for managing change. In general, change management is a process and effort that are carried out in a systematic way to help the company manage any change, in order to support the success of the company. The ADKAR model or theory of change is an objective-oriented tool or model that allows different change management teams to focus on those steps or activities that are directly related to the objectives they want to achieve. Ensure that the process plan aligns with business objectives and outlines the implementation and sustainability of organizational change.
PulseLearning is an award-winning global learning provider with experience in change management consulting and developing attractive and innovative e-learning and blended training solutions. The change management process allows professionals in organizations to take advantage of and expand change management activities that help affected individuals and groups overcome their transitions. These changes are generally minor modifications and adjustments that managers adjust and implement to execute business strategies. There are many benefits to employing effective change management in both large and small-scale initiatives. It can help organizations reduce costs by streamlining processes, increase efficiency by eliminating redundant tasks, improve customer service by providing better products or services faster, increase employee engagement by providing more meaningful work opportunities, reduce risk by anticipating potential problems before they arise, improve communication by providing clear direction on how changes should be implemented, and increase morale by creating a sense of ownership over changes. What may be most enlightening about research into effective change management is that poor change management is correlated with greater success than not implementing any. An example of transformative change is the adoption of customer relationship management (CRM) software, which all departments are expected to learn and use. To ensure a smooth transition, it's important to have an established organizational change management process that can be applied to various types of changes.
This process should include identifying stakeholders who will be affected by the changes; assessing their needs; developing a plan for implementing the changes; communicating with stakeholders; monitoring progress; evaluating results; and making adjustments as needed.
