The general importance of change management is that it tends to increase productivity and service in all the departments in a company. But change is not always embraced by employees, managers and supervisors with open arms. It will always face resistance and there are good reasons for that. While the change may be important and unstoppable to the company, many individuals will always be hesitant to take on something new and leave behind what they have been familiar with for a long time. Change can create fear, uncertainty and loss of confidence and job security among employees, supervisors and the managers.
Understanding the Importance of Change Management
The Dangers of Lacking a Change Management Plan
Companies that go through change without a plan always have a hard time getting employees to accept the new ideas the business wants to implement. Fast change is not safe, nor is it a good idea. It creates fear and a sense of hopelessness because of the unknown. If people are not guided through steps and activities that will help introduce the change, company owners are going to face a hard time trying to figure out how to increase productivity and services in business. Remember, change is something that even the most senior employee in your company has no idea about, and in that case cannot be implemented overnight to say the least.
The Structured Approach to Implementing Change
CEOs and top managers should therefore understand that having a structured approach is essential to the change process. The approach aims at empowering employees at all levels to accept, embrace and prepare for change. Remember, transitioning individuals, teams and organization can be either simple or complex depending on the nature of the change.
It can take different forms such as downsizing, growing the organization or introducing a new technology to the business. Whatever the reason for change, a well-structure approach is always essential. It will help employees to understand, accept, embrace and commit to the changes without resistance. Without an effective Change Management Plan in place, your business could experience problems and unnecessary troubles, mostly those resulting from resistance to change.
The task of managing change in an organization is not an easy one. It has never been easy to introduce, implement and activate change in any department in business. Despite the complexity, Change Management is vital because it plays an important role of increasing productivity, service, input and returns to a business. That is obvious, but there is more. An effective Change Management Methodology will help to minimize possible negative outcomes and increase positive results.
The advantages of change management
Effective change management has an array of benefits that a business can enjoy as it clients the ladder of success. As a CEO, you hope is that the change you want to implement in the organization faces minimal or no resistance at all. The following are some of the benefits that can be achieved if change in the organization is managed properly.
Employee awareness and understanding
Before you introduce a change, remember that every person you have employed plays an important part in making that change a success. Changed should not be a discussion of CEO and senior managers alone. It should involve everybody including the employees in the company. A properly optimized and well-managed plan will help to give employees, supervisors, senior and junior managers a clear understand of the change. Employees become aware about the need for change and the importance of preparing to adapt the unknown.
Employees become part of change
Whether your company has ten, fifty or over a thousand employees, getting them involved in the change process is important. They could be the reason for change. Once you create awareness about the change, your employees automatically become part of the change. Being part of the change means that employees are free to discuss the change and bring their personal ideas to the table without questioning or any form of resistance from the CEO or the senior management.
Training
The other importance of change management is that it allows the CEO and the senior management to prepare a training plan that will help the employees to adapt to the new changes. This involves providing appropriate training resources that will help employees to adapt to the changes right from the time the change is fully implemented. The best thing you can do after employees have agreed to support the change is to have a plan that will help them build knowledge and skills required to adapt to the change within the shortest time possible.
Minimal chances for resistance
As a CEO, your hope is that employees will accept the change you are about to bring without any form of resistance. However, this is not always true. Do not be shocked to find out that even the most loyal employee in the company shows resistance to the change you want implemented. In most cases, resistance to change is common because you failed to make employees part of the change process. Getting them involved in the change process is a great way to eliminate resistance.
The last thing you want to do is make employees feel insecure. Your Change Management Plan should involve them in the change process every step of the way. They need to maintain a sense of protection and knowledge that when the change happens, they will not be at the risks of losing their jobs or be mismanaged. If they are not introduced in the change process, they are likely to resist because they will never want to change from business ethics that have become common to them to a new way of doing things. Getting them involved helps get output from them and this gives them the confidence that their security as workers is guaranteed.
Support for change
The other importance of change management is that employees will agree to offer support for change. Since they are already aware that the change is for the better, they are highly unlikely to put in any form of resistance to the idea of change.
Conclusion
Having an understanding of the importance of change management will allow you to create a plan that will yield the positive results you are looking to achieve within your organization.
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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.