This is Part I of a 4 part article on how to effectively lead organizational change. In this first part we will focus on preparing for change to happen. Part 2 will cover managing the change initiative, part 3 will cover reinforcing the change and part 4 will focus on best practices to evaluate and maintain the change over time.
Introduction
Too often organizations tend to jump into a change initiative without doing upfront planning for the change. I have heard the following from clients:
- The change is not a big deal – let’s just get going
- No one likes change anyway…so why waste time trying to sell them on it
- The change has to happen, there is no option – like it or not
However, if we follow a simple process, we can more effectively and successfully launch organizational change initiatives.
Preparing for Change
Prior to launching an organizational change initiative, prepare for the change to occur. This enables you to gain support for the change and increase your chances of successful implementation of the change. Additionally, you often find that when sharing information on the change initiative with others – you may find out additional information that would impact the change initiative and/or enable for a more successful change initiative.
What is the scope of the change?
What is the impact of this change (who does it affect)? Is it just one department, workgroup? A division within the company or multiple division? Is it organization-wide?
The larger the impact of the change, the riskier the change is; therefore requiring more upfront planning.
Is the organization ready for change?
How are things currently in the organization? Is morale high? Are employees engaged? Is there other change efforts happening that will impact how this change will be received? How effectively and successfully have past change initiatives been implemented? Is there usually resistance to change?
If there is much happening currently in the organization, it may be difficult to undertake the change initiative now. Of course there are situations where the change must happen and it must happen now. In such cases, acknowledging that there is much happening and that it will not be easy to manage one more initiative helps to let employees know you empathize and understand the situation.
This is the start of socializing – or getting buy-in – for the change initiative. The more people you get on board and comfortable early on, the easier your change management project.
Who should be involved in planning for the change?
In this first phase, determine who needs to be involved in planning the change initiative. For a cross-functional change initiative, be sure that each function is represented on the project team. You want a diversity of people on your planning team. Diversity enables for more creative problem solving and decision making. The more diversity on the team, the more likely you will successfully implement your change.
In Part 2, Managing the Change Initiative, we will discuss how to socialize the change and get it kicked off effectively.
