Many contemporary organisations struggle with creating sustainable and meaningful change. Unfortunately, relevant and information-dense research is not made easily accessible regarding change management principles and processes, which further exacerbates the issue. So what is change management, and why is it important?
Change management is exactly what it says it is, the careful management of a change in the organisation. It’s a collective term for all activities used to prepare and support individuals and teams through making an organisational change. It reduces the risk of costly errors or timely delays, by making sure all change is carefully considered and managed.
Your change management strategy will make clear activities you need to undertake to move your organisation from its present form to a desired future state.
The first step to developing a strategy like this is to recognise that organisational change is a huge task. Implementing and embedding permanent change must be addressed through leadership, and installed through engagement from your wider team, who should be supported. When change is managed well, it has the ability to help address resistance, secure sustainable benefits quicker, and reduce negative performance impact.
Change in workforce, advanced technology, globalisation, and competitive pressures all have a role to play in promoting organisations and their workers to engage in any attempt to manage planned change.
How should we approach change management?
Approached in a structured and flexible manner, change management activities can be very effectively integrated with existing projects and activities, thus increasing sustainability, and minimising a potentially negative impact on performance.
Change management is essential, and should be seen as such.
You may feel the need to draw on specialists and professionals to draw up and implement a change management programme on your behalf, but this will very much depend on the nature and scale of your change. Whether you hire a professional or not, it’s important your leadership and management teams are aware of the change, supportive of it, and supported in managing the change team-wide, otherwise the road will be rocky and uncertain.
Statistics say that only one third of organisational change interventions succeed, and we can almost guarantee that failure is typically due to lack of planning and management. This is why it is really important to take the time to invest in change management – both what it is and how it works.
Why is change management so important?
Big changes in your organisation can impact the people, culture, processes and technology you need in order to run a profitable business. Change can cause a lot of pressure and stress, and should be delivered in a way that integrates well with important elements of your business, or else your staff – and productivity – will suffer. In these trying times, that’s the last thing anyone needs.
It’s a good idea to involve your team from the very beginning. Get them interested in the change you are deploying. Influence them, so that they’re involved and supportive of what you are trying to do. If you need any tips and advice about this, we can recommend the book ‘How To Win Friends And Influence People’, which is a guide to getting people on your side.
It’s important that you let your leadership and management staff – and, eventually, your wider teams – are given an opportunity to review and shape the change, or else they’ll likely reject it. Your entire team should be in agreement of the changes you are implementing, they should be able to feedback their opinions on it, and then you have a better chance of a fluid, efficient change management strategy that achieves its objectives, because everyone is onboard.
Yorkshire Change and change management
If you’re making a big change and you’re unsure you’ll have the capacity to get your team onside to implement a change management strategy, Yorkshire Change can help you. We’ll work with you personally to establish the outcomes you desire. We’ll then develop a list of needs, a systems specification, and a plan of implementation.
Yorkshire Change can provide the following professionals to help with your change:
- Business analyst
- Business process analyst
- PMO
- Project manager
- Program manager
- Change manager
If your organisation relies on integrated technology and IT systems that require monitoring and regular reviews, you have no cause to worry. Our teams can handle that, too. We’ll make sure any changes we implement with your blessing are of the highest standard, so there’s no need to fear the unknown.