Change Management: Dealing with Change
The only consistency in the business world is change. Companies who are able to successfully adapt and adopt will be able to have short term success in the ever changing world. Companies who are able to not only adapt, but also bring in their employees and stakeholders along with the change are able to flourish!
In this blog, we will look a bit more in depth on the following:
Why is change management necessary?
Managing change
Resistance to change
Cloud of Meaning
Why is Change Management Necessary?
One pre-requisite to be aware of before carrying on is to know that change management has always and will always be a necessity for companies, albeit now at a much faster pace. The reason for the pace is because of technology. The faster technology evolves, the faster the pace of change.
What is Change Management?
A simple definition of change is: make or become different
Within the world of business, organizations will normally pursue two types of change:
Organizational Change:
Adoption of new ideas of behavior by an organization
Learning Organization:
An organization which continuously adapt to new situations, beating the mold and allowing them to flourish
Every company will have their own strategy on how to continually change, with the strategy being based on the current industry, their own position in the industry and their internal vision. Generally speaking, most organization will follow one of four types:
Evolution: Apple in the late 2000s
Adaption: Nokia in the early 2000s (however strategic drift occurred)
Reconstruction: An example being Legos in 2004
Revolution: Apple in the mid/late 1990s
Types of Strategic Change
Pace of Change
As we have spoken about above, the pace of change will depend on the pace of technology. This is due to pretty much all modern companies adapting technology within their organization. This means that the environmental pace will be even more rapid than ever before.
If the organization does not change to the pace of the environment, a strategic drift will occur, called the strategic drift. This is also called ‘sleeping giant syndrome’. As the diagram shows below, the green dotted line is the pace of environmental change. The red lines are the possible organizational change. Different consequences can happen based on the speed:
Example 1: The organization is changing more slowly than its industry
Example 2: The result = a deep crisis
Example 3: Organization transforms
Example 4: Or dies
Example 5: This organization anticipated accelerated industry change and evolved in advance of it
Whether the company is the inventor of the new idea, the market leader or was an early adopter themselves, they still need to continue changing, adapting and adopting in accordance to the pace, or else face dying. Many famous examples have been seen through history, with the likes of Kodak, Blockbusters and Nokia!
Strategic Drift
Managing Change
Even if an organization is ahead of the game, adapting to the environmental pace, they need to know how to be able to manage the change, both internally and externally. This means knowing how to make the employees aware of the change, want the change, as well as give the necessary knowledge and abilities to the employees to implement the change correctly and also to be able to reinforce the change in order for the change to be cemented with the company. One method organizations can use is the ADKAR method!
Awareness: Allowing the employees to be aware of the reason for the change and the need
Desire: To create a desire and want from employees on this change i.e. employee buy in
Knowledge: To give employees the adequate knowledge on how to adapt to these changes and what the company will potentially look like with the changes
Ability: Upskill and train employees in any skills they may need or change of behavior and/or attitude
Reinforcement: Reinforce the change so that it is a solid foundation of the company
ADKAR
Watch an introduction video on what ADKAR is
Resistance to Change
An article from Forbes states 62% of people are afraid to leave their comfort zone. People are afraid of new systems, new ways of doing things and even new technology. Many companies will receive push-back from employees on the change, with the normal statement of ‘why are we changing again’ or ‘what’s wrong with how we do things now?’. Companies will normally come across 6 different types of people when implementing change:
Critical Thinkers: Committed to the company and the change, but will have lots of questions about the changes, its impact and will ensure no stones are left untouched
Untouched Professionals: May be ‘meh’ about the changes and get on with it
Evangelists: Will go along with any changes the company throws. These people can be dangerous as they go in blind and not question. ‘Yes’ man
Open Cynics: Not committed at all to the change, the company and will look for any little thing to be frustrated at. These are where the problems may occur
Sceptics: Not overly committed and may have some questions. Have some faith but skeptical about the change being positive
Actors: Not committed to the change but not critical. May pretend to be committed and just go along with it. These are dangerous to the company as they will be big hindrance for progress
Reaction to Change
Communication
One of the most important thing companies need to do when implementing change is to communicate promptly and effectively. This means using the right mode of communication, giving the right information to the right department and ensuring awareness of impact of change on the person. Many companies do the error of implementing change and having employees find out from others. This is a grave mistake as the children game of ‘Chinese Whispers’ shows us, information gets changed the more people it goes through.
Companies need to be efficient with how they communicate and how much information they give, ensuring it is easy to comprehend and digest for the employees. This is similar to the Goldilocks effect, with communication needing to be just right!
Communication needs to be just right
Overcoming Resistance
Companies need to understand the resistance to the change to be able to overcome the change. Resistance can range from cultural differences, to the mindset of change is not necessary to even fear of the unknown, failure or fear of their own status to power. This is the responsibility of the employers to find out why there’s resistance and what can be done to overcome the resistance.
Cloud of Meaning
As we have mentioned above, even with the change and the correct communication and implementation, there’s still going to be some people uncommitted to the change. This may be from history of knowing the company has implemented a change and it did not work out, or from their own personal attitude.
When implementing change, many small sets of cloud of meaning can occur. The ‘actors’ and others may nod, clap their hands and show agreement when the change has been mentioned onstage. However, offstage may be a completely different story. Offstage is where employees will try to make sense of the change, with them thinking and asking ‘what’s so great about the change’, or alternatively ‘Great! The change offers new career opportunities.’ This will be the ‘cloud of meaning’ and can impact how the change is perceived or ‘sold’ to the stakeholders. Employers need to be aware of what possible clouds will form and how to effectively ensure the same understanding, minimizing the pessimistic clouds.
Watch Thijs Homan, the creator of Cloud of Meaning, talk about the innter side of organizational change
Effective Change Management
For effective change management, companies need to have the case for the change and need to manage what is causing resistance and slowing down of progress of the change. Companies need to show progress of the change, the rationale of why the change is a benefit, not only for the company but for all employees. The change ultimately needs to be cemented in the everyday running of the business, thus becoming the new norm!
Case for Change
If you are a company or a manager who is needing to implementing change, planning to implement change or is in the process of implementing change, click below to see our Change Management Toolkit to guide you through each step!
