Implementing organizational change is always a difficult task because it requires that employees alter their routines, thinking and habits in a way that affects their work. Because change creates uncertainty, many employees are always not for the idea of embracing the change. Despite the attempt of being apprehensive about embracing organizational change, change within the organization is always necessary.
Change could occur for reasons such as an introduction of a new financial system, closures, and change in managerial roles, mergers or adjustments in the sales or financial department. Whatever the reason, change must be implemented in the right way if it is going to be successful.
Implementing organizational change is not easy, but it is absolutely necessary
Change is a process that can bring high-level improvements in your business. It must be a constant process in the life cycle of an organization if you want to succeed as an organization. Obviously, changes are nightmares for managers, entrepreneurs and employees.
However, if a business is able to use proper communication as its main tool to communicate changes and create a culture where changes are widely accepted, the implementation process of change will be much easier. Remember you want to create a working environment that not only makes employees comfortable but also gives them a sense of belonging and decision making powers within the respective organizational departments.
Why Implementing Organizational Change Can Fail
Resistance to change is the cause for unsuccessful process of implementing organizational change. Usually, resistance to change occur because employees have reasons to believe that the change to be implemented will not bring any improvement or worse, make the organization an uncomfortable place to work in. For instance, employees could resist change because they believe it could lead to severe implications on business plans, fear of unknown, misunderstandings or the weakness of the proposed changes. Additionally, changes cannot be implemented effectively if they are not communicated to the concerned parties on time. Other reasons for resisting change implementation include skepticism about the change, short time to performing the change and the fear of increased unnecessary workload.
3 Techniques For Implementing Organizational Change
Implementing a change can be a challenge if your business uses improper techniques. By developing efficient ways to introduce, communicate ad implement change, you will be able to ease the stress employees go through when a change is introduced. This will also help customers, partner and vendors to adjust to your new ways of doing business.
Choose the Right Leaders
You need to pick the right leaders to help implement the change. Every leader in the team must be well above individual interests as well as office politicking. Find leaders who can easily align to the change you are seeking. These leaders must be aware of the cost, business, economic, welfare and social benefits involved in the change process. You need to keep the employees in mind when choosing leaders to help you lead the change implementation process. If they are not visible figures, whom employees can feel comfortable turning to and interacting with during the change implementation process, then it is highly likely that resistance to change will happen.
First, the leaders themselves must be able to identify the need for change. Lastly, they must be able to determine the general direction the change to be implemented will take the company. If they are not able to perform these two tasks comfortably, they are not worth selecting. This is because they will not be able to assume the responsibility of guiding employees in adopting a new attitude towards change. The leaders you choose to implement change should also be the kinds that are able to look at the business as though they were running it. They should also have the interest of the employees in mind to avoid any likelihood of resistance to change. Lastly, they need to be aware of the impact of change and the improvement and profitability the change to implement can bring.
Establish a Strong Change Team
Your employees are the most important part of the change team. Getting them involved in the change process encourages them to look at the business as if they were running it. Get employees from all divisions of the company, from marketing managers to the accounting clerk to the subordinate staff, involved in the change process. Use them to form a powerful change team for the organization. Some of these people may not be top-tier employees in the organization, but they keep the organization up and running in one way or another. Additionally, they form a powerful team of leaders who can help in designing and steering change within their respective divisions of work.
The change team will act as the strongest link between the employees and the top management in the organization. The team will also play part in helping employees to develop daily routines, which seek to implement the suggested changes. Use this team to explain to the employees on what the change is and how the change is going to affect the company. You need a team that has the right approach I communicating to the employee on what exactly is going on to create understand from the onset of change implementation to adoption of the change.
Get Employees Involved
The change always effects employees, so they need to hear from you directly. Because they are part of an organization that is about to go through a series of changes, they cannot be left out in the implementation process. While the two teams already in place, as discussed above, have the potential to design and implement change, there is no guarantee that your effort to implement change without involving the employees will be effective. In situations where employees are the ones required to do the change, their presence cannot be ignored.
Create some time and talk to employees in a clear and concise manner. Help them to understand what will be required from them to meet the new expectations. Make them feel like they are running the business as if it were their own. Let them know the skills they will need to work effectively after the new changes have been implemented. Be open to employees suggestions lets you lose their trust and they evoke resistance to implementing organizational change.
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WalkMe Team
WalkMe spearheaded the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) for associations to use the maximum capacity of their advanced resources. Utilizing man-made consciousness, AI, and context-oriented direction, WalkMe adds a powerful UI layer to raise the computerized proficiency, everything being equal.