Making it stick

In business operations, change management may be a nebulous idea and skill. It includes a variety of things, including communications, stakeholder involvement, staff coordination, and new working methods. It also has organisational culture at its core.

Large organisations frequently have inadequate change management, despite the fact that the people-side of change is essential to ensure the success of change initiatives. We have observed it in several organisations that have admitted to having trouble sustaining change. Therefore, we have identified five significant findings from our research that will assist you in implementing change successfully in your organisation.

Realise the Value of Change Management to Leaders of all Levels

In the course of our change management work, we frequently come into contact with individuals from all levels of the organisation who have never heard of change management and who occasionally dispute the necessity of assigning people to the position. To ensure that stakeholders across the organisation are aware of the breadth and advantages of change management, it frequently helps to create fundamental knowledge rather than presuming that everyone is aware of what it is.

In the weeks and months prior to the change, executive briefings, office hours for people of all levels to ask questions about what the change means for them and requesting input from executive sponsors to ensure the change approach is in line with the strategy and tactics. They want to promote this in the organisation to help in fostering adoption and buy-in for change management. In addition, giving people the chance to have open discussions can assist to ensure that everyone is aware of what is going on. Some corporate executives even get in contact with us afterwards to ask for help with a change they're making.

For instance, we held office hours for the teams whose workflows will change due to an introduction of a new software system at a prominent healthcare organisation. Therefore, it was possible to talk about change management and the latest procedures we introduced during office hours. In the same organisation, we also convened regular executive meetings to discuss our change management initiatives and shared information collected from our continuing work and ideas from the frontline personnel.

Don't let the Procedure Overshadow the Results

Most companies with a dedicated change management staff also have methods and tools for change management. They may have invented these uniquely for their culture and team, or they may have modified them from other published books on change management. However, we have seen stakeholders in change management become increasingly dependent on such procedures and technologies, losing sight of the objectives of change management from a human viewpoint.

Completing a change impact assessment or stakeholder analysis may give you the impression that you are in control of the change by remaining organised and abiding by the regulations, not every company change necessitates the use of all available resources. Additionally, your stakeholders may grow worn out by all the activities, meetings, and processes involved in change management administration. Therefore, we advise focusing primarily on the tasks that will truly help make the required adjustments.

For instance, in a tech start-up, many leaders had come from much bigger organisations and sought to employ the techniques and knowledge from those larger organisations for change management. However, teams did not see the utility in creating detailed documentation to introduce a new method of working since the start up culture was so action-oriented. So, we collaborated with teams and leadership to find and employ just those tools and procedures that added value, complementing the corporate culture

Don't let important Stakeholders slow you down, instead Engage Them.

It's tempting to be highly transparent about the change management process when including stakeholders, soliciting feedback from both corporate executives and team members on the ground. Even while we advise early and frequent communication about the change, you shouldn't adopt every piece of criticism. Taking everyone's suggestions and still implementing the change properly is not possible.

We have found that the majority of stakeholders frequently request empathic listening. Accept ideas, suggestions, and criticism from all areas of the organisation in a disciplined and time-bound manner, as we did at the big healthcare organisation with our monthly executive briefings. Following feedback, only adopt or put into practice the strategies and actions that will help you achieve your goal of effectively implementing the change.

Look for your Change Champions

The individuals who will be impacted by the change must adopt it as their new mode of operation for it to be effective. The individuals who are being transformed finally must embrace ownership of the new way of working, regardless of who is spearheading the change—internal company executives or external consultants.

In our experience, giving the business ownership of the change as early in the process, helps to avoid the perception among stakeholders that they are being "done to" rather than "doing." We create a network of change ambassadors that collaborate with their peers to serve as trailblazers or champions for major changes like system deployments at large corporations. They disseminate information about it, instruct their co-workers, and act as a peer resource in case questions or concerns crop up while the process is going on. Our change ambassadors receive additional or early training to ensure that no one is left behind while the new working method is implemented. They also collaborate with business leaders and support employees during this time.

Post Implementation Support is Vital to continued Success

Remember that change management efforts must continue even after the change is implemented. Often, organisations will spend a lot of work preparing for a change, only to cease all change-related training, support, and communication a few days after the new system or procedure is put into place. Even the most well-prepared team members could sense some trepidation and wonder about the new way of working as they encounter actual situations rather than the ones they practiced. We advise that change assistance be provided for at least two to four weeks following a go-live date and longer if the new method of working significantly impacts team members' day-to-day tasks, depending on the impact of the change.

Change Champions are a valuable resource for organisations wishing to assist a big team once they have been implemented. An innovative strategy to transfer ownership of the change to the teams while guaranteeing continuous support is to rely on the change ambassadors to schedule team meetings, recognise outstanding performance, or identify struggling team members. Additionally, we have had experience facilitating, focus groups, running town hall-style meetings for the whole impacted staff at businesses of all sizes, and hosting office hours where team members may raise questions in a welcoming setting. These activities assist the organisation review what went well during the change planning and implementation and what to improve for future deployments while fostering a sense of support among team members in the early stages of the new way of working.

Even though organisations occasionally neglect change management, we've discovered that business transformations with committed change management resources are more likely to provide long-lasting effects. Organisations may get the most out of new working methods while still supporting people by concentrating on education, outcomes, feedback, and their employees and ensuring assistance continues after the go-live date.