FACILITATING COMPANY GROWTH WITH AN EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Businesses need to continually evolve so that they’re able to grow. At the outset, overseeing everything to ensure it is running smoothly is relatively simple to organize. However, as you grow, the available time you have becomes more restricted, meaning that checking that everyone’s doing their job properly becomes almost impossible.

A change management strategy is something that alleviates this issue, as it allows you to analyze the changes you intend to make and how they will affect the rest of the company. Whether updating technology, restructuring your business or introducing new software, a good change management strategy will provide the necessary guidance until everyone gets used to the new way of working.

What Exactly IS Change Management?

Change Management can be summed up by saying that it’s how you ensure that any organizational, team or process changes that occur in your company are implemented smoothly and effectively. There is usually a requirement for a dedicated team who liaise with both the human and technical elements of a company to make sure that there is an understanding, acceptance of the proposed changes.

Buy-in to any changes made is extremely important, as people are often reluctant to drop their old routines for new ones. This is best achieved by explaining the benefits of the work changes whilst checking for comprehension of how the new methods are used. Fail to do this and you’ll likely soon find that your team is either cutting corners or returning to what they have always done.

Positives Coming from an Effective Strategy:

When a change management strategy is enacted properly, there are often positives to come out of the process. That’s because making the change feel like a joint effort and asking for feedback will make your team feel empowered, as their needs are being listened to. The result of this is a stronger bond between management and staff, which can only be a good thing.

While there are broad umbrella terms used to classify different change management strategies like ‘enterprise’, ‘organizational’ and ‘individual’, the premise for all of them is simple – Get ready for change, ensure the change goes smoothly and then support the new setup as it operates.

What you shouldn’t confuse change management with is process re-engineering, as the latter basically means ripping up the way you’re doing things and starting again from scratch. Change management, however, involves implementing smaller changes that are likely to be easier to introduce without causing too much disruption.

Why is Change Management Important?

The fact is that businesses that don’t evolve with the market will eventually die. Even if we’re talking about a huge corporation, stagnation = decline = eventual irrelevance. So, the more easily employees can adapt to change, the better it is for the company in question. Make the process for change too complicated or leave your employees too much in the dark and you fail to prepare your business for change.

A good change management strategy will galvanize a team, as opposed to pushing individuals apart and by allowing opinions to be heard and providing a coherent company-wide strategy, you’ll manage expectations effectively. There are some key elements that need to be adhered to, to ensure your change management strategy is fit for purpose.

They are:

● Communicate changes in easy-to-understand language
● Clearly define exactly what changes will occur and how to track them
● Start the process from the top down, but ensure that front line team members are also coached
● Provide a formal framework for your changes
● Encourage shifts in overall behaviors, not just individual actions
● Associate the changes to physical and emotional benefits to your team
● Understand your company’s culture and use it to your advantage
● Listen to feedback offered by your team

Your ultimate goal is to have upper management engaged in a uniform manner and teams who are all in alignment with each other in approach and attitude. Leave anyone out of the process and you risk dissent and teams that are all working in different ways with different agendas.

Understanding the exact culture of your company will also help a lot, as you’ll know where all of its strengths and weaknesses lie. With this information, you can decide how best to encourage good communication and team-building. Each company culture is unique and your approach needs to reflect this.

Providing a formal framework for any strategic change is also advisable, as documentation of repeatable tasks will give a team a reference point and the ability to track their progress. Consistency is what you’re after and a good framework will let everyone know how to do what they need to do and how to do it right every time.

In Summary

As we’ve spoken about, change management sounds like an awfully official term, however, in practice, it simply represents an organized approach to making changes in your business. When changes are made, the new methods need to be introduced in such a way that they are understood by everyone and that the benefits of changing are clear.

When your staff are uncertain about what changes are being made and they affect them in their work, you’re likely to encounter resistance and a transition plagued with issues. Involve your team, teach them what they need to know and listen to their feedback. It’s the surest way to smooth company growth.

If you’d like to know more about anything we’ve discussed today, head over to our website www.cxportal.com. However, if you’d like to speak to us directly, call us on +442034416513 and we’ll help you in any way we can.