Is Your Organization Change-Savvy?

Change savvy organizations recognize that change is a natural part of the organization and that it must be managed. They understand that change management is a competency and ensure that individual contributors up to the leadership team have that competency in order for change to be successful. They also understand that change is difficult – that even the simplest change must be “sold” within the organization. Even if the organization accepts change more readily (which is common in a change-savvy organization), leadership still spend time selling that change to ensure they have the buy-in for the effort to be successful.

In a change-savvy organization, change is a common occurrence. How the work gets done in the organization is regularly evaluated and improvements are made; often driven by those who are actually doing the day-to-day work.

In a change-savvy organization, a typical change effort includes the following change team members:

• An executive who leads the change, providing the vision and ensuring understanding of how the change will benefit the organization as well as the individuals within the organization.
• A project manager with experience in managing change projects and engaging the team in change.
• Team members who are also engaged in the change.
• Managers who support the change, providing resources (team members) from their staff and ensuring individuals with the right skills and experience and desire have the opportunity to work on the change initiative.
• Individual contributors who are engaged in the change and eager to undertake the challenge. They function as champions of the change.

In a change-savvy organization, communication is frequent and thorough. Challenges are shared and employees are asked for their input. Successes are shared and employees are given credit for those successes. Leadership listens to the ideas of employees and encourages them to find better ways of getting the work done and then provides them the financing and resources needed to enable them to implement those changes.

Is your organization a change-savvy one?