Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization’s goals, processes, or technologies. It involves preparing and supporting employees, leaders, and teams during the process of organizational changes.
The main objective of change management is to implement strategies to control transformations and help people adapt to them. To achieve this, companies need to plan how to implement, monitor, and track the success of planned changes.
Change management activities can address both individual projects and more ambitious programs, such as the digital transformation of an organization. Transformation efforts involve management teams and other stakeholders, with employee engagement being essential for success.
If you want to manage change the right way, scroll down and keep reading our article. We will also discuss what this approach is for and its different methodologies.
What is the purpose of change management?
The approach is used to prepare, support, and equip employees to deal with transformations within an organization. This need has become increasingly important as companies undergo faster and more complex changes.
Change management works in a complementary way to project management. While project management focuses on the technical side of transformation, change management emphasizes the people within the organization.
In this context, change management allows your organization to adopt transformations more quickly, more completely, and more proficiently. The approach helps keep your stakeholders engaged even during the most disruptive changes.
Additionally, it helps your employees understand why changes are happening. Employees then have the time and tools to engage with the transformations, feeling heard and supported.
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Change management methodologies
In difficult processes such as organizational changes, it is very important to have a starting point. To face such a challenge, you can rely on different methodologies that will guide you through this process.
Check out the best change management models for your business below:
1. McKinsey 7S Model
This framework was developed by consultants from the American business consulting firm McKinsey & Company. It invites you to divide your change program into seven components—starting with strategy and ending with the team involved.
The McKinsey 7S Model is best suited for large companies, especially those undergoing strategic transformations or corporate mergers. It can help your company’s leaders realign various organizational components to support the desired changes.
Below you will find all the 7S of McKinsey and what they mean:
- Strategy: What your company is trying to do to gain a competitive advantage over the competition. It usually manifests as a business plan developed through competent curation.
- Systems: Where the formal processes and tools used within a company’s routine actions are described. Includes technology systems, performance evaluation processes, and budget controls.
- Structure: Here you define how your company is organized, including how tasks are divided, who is on which team, and who the leaders of those teams are.
- Style: Describe the leadership and management approach within your company. Try to summarize the organization’s culture within the informal code of conduct established by how people communicate and make decisions.
- Skills: The set of capabilities and competencies of a company’s employees. Skills are what will enable the organization to achieve its goals.
- Shared Values: Note the beliefs and principles that guide decision-making in your company. Take the opportunity to review your corporation’s values, mission, and purpose.
- Staff: Involves the management of employees and all human resources of the company. Includes recruitment, training, and reward systems.
From these notes, identify the areas that are not effectively aligned and define an ideal structure for your organization. After that, you should decide what changes need to be made and get to work to execute them.
2. Kotter’s Eight Steps
Seven steps not enough for you? Then we invite you to try Kotter’s eight steps! Developed by Harvard management professor John Kotter, they focus on the psychological aspect of the people involved in the change process.
This method is suitable for companies of all sizes that are about to undergo changes in their initiatives. This can include digital transformations or cultural overhauls.
See below all the steps described by the Harvard professor:
- Create a sense of urgency. Seek to create internal momentum that excites the members of your organization. Offer them a clear and compelling vision of the future, inspiring them to act with passion and a sense of purpose.
- Form a powerful coalition. Convince your subordinates that change is necessary. Join forces with influential people within the organization to create a coalition for change—the power of these colleagues comes from different sources, such as position, expertise, status, and political importance.
- Form a strategic vision. Connect the more abstract concepts that arise in your brainstorming to an overall vision that people can engage with. This will help people understand why you are asking something of them.
- Communicate your vision. Clearly explain how the future will be different from the past. Win over employees by explaining how you intend to turn the future you have envisioned for them into reality through initiatives.
- Remove obstacles. Identify processes or structures that are hindering change and work with leaders to alter or eliminate them. Recognize and reward people who are making the transformation happen, while showing the need for evolution to those who are more resistant.
- Create short-term wins. In addition to your big long-term goal, it is also advisable to create goals with more immediate deadlines. This way, you avoid critics or people with a negative view of the process from affecting the progress of the operation.
- Consolidate the transformation. According to John Kotter, many projects fail by declaring victory too early. After each short-term win, analyze what went right and what needs improvement. Set goals to take advantage of the momentum of the achievements already made.
- Create change. Ensure that the changes made are deeply incorporated into the organization’s culture. Reinforce new behaviors, evaluate processes, and collaborate with leadership to maintain the transformation.
At the end of Kotter’s eight steps, you should have a roadmap that will help you navigate the complex process of organizational change.
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3. Lewin’s Model
Developed by German psychologist Kurt Lewin in the 1940s, this method has three steps: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. It works based on an analogy with an ice cube.
Suppose you want to turn it into an ice cone. To do this, you need to melt the cube to ensure it is susceptible to change. This is the unfreezing phase.
Only after you can mold the resulting water into the desired shape—the changing phase. Finally, you can refreeze this water, forming the ice cone in a refreezing process.
Here is a summary of how these three steps work in a corporate environment:
- Unfreezing. Prepare your organization to accept that change is necessary. Develop a compelling message that summarizes why the current way of doing things is not working and needs to be modified. Cite tangible factors such as declining sales, poor customer feedback, or below-expected financial results.
- Changing. Explain to employees how the change will benefit them and bring positive transformations to the company as a whole. Give them the necessary time to understand what is happening and communicate each step of the process well before and during its implementation.
- Refreezing. Your company will be ready to enter this phase when people have assimilated the new ways of working. Another great sign pointing to this is your company having a stable organizational structure with consistent job descriptions.
Upon reaching the refreezing stage, you should work to stabilize the new modes of operation in your organization. This prevents your employees from being trapped in an endless transition trap, where they do not perform tasks either the old way or the new way.
An important step is to celebrate the success of the change, which will bring a sense of closure to people. Create feedback systems to understand what is supporting the transformation after refreezing and what are the barriers to sustaining it.
Read more: What is change control and how to implement it in your company
How to successfully manage change
If you have made it this far, you should have already chosen the methodology that makes the most sense for your organization’s current moment and the desired transformation. So now let’s give more general tips on how to successfully manage change and take your company to the next level!
1. Define clear governance structures
A study by McKinsey & Company — yes, the same one from the 7S model — indicates that programs with well-defined governance structures are 6.4 times more likely to be successful. It is recommended that you establish a change committee, usually called the Change Advisory Board (CAB).
For this to work, it is necessary to have executive leadership support, collaboration from C-levels, and initiative owners (IOs) for each department or team. The CAB will be responsible for creating processes to vet and prioritize transformations, as well as implementing the procedures that will make all this a reality.
2. Collect feedback from employees
A fundamental part of any evolution process is talking to frontline workers. They will be the most impacted by any transformation that happens in your company.
Their feedback will help you understand the current state of the corporation and the support employees will need during the change process. They will also be able to better explain how the status quo negatively impacts their operations and suggest changes that could improve their work routine.
3. Determine how to implement the transformation
You should determine the implementation method based on the project’s size, the number of people impacted, the risk involved, and your IT resources. Based on this information, you should choose between the Linear, Geometric, or Big Bang methods.
In the first method, changes are promoted gradually and sequentially. In the second, you implement transformations in increasingly larger waves. Finally, the Big Bang is the option that requires the most resources and carries the highest risk, as you promote all changes at once in a short period.
4. Communicate through multiple channels
The change management firm Prosci published a study indicating that 58% of employees prefer to receive communications about personal impacts of change directly from their supervisors. Meanwhile, 11% prefer to hear these updates from their department heads—less than 10% want to be updated by CEOs, senior managers, or HR leaders.
When it comes to organizational changes, the situation reverses. 37% prefer the announcement to come from the CEO, while 27% want to hear from executive leaders. Senior managers (10%) and department heads (10%) complete the list.
Keep your employees updated on changes through channels such as:
- Announcements within your enterprise management software, like SoftExpert Suite
- Corporate communication platforms (Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.)
- Emails
- General or departmental meetings (online or in-person)
Read more: What is process management and what advantages does it bring to your business?
5. Monitor progress and employee adoption
The Change Advisory Board should monitor the progress of transformation initiatives and track adoption and success metrics. It is important to correlate the change project with business metrics.
Keep an eye on the time needed to complete tasks, revenue increases, and risk reductions, among other factors. This will allow you to confirm that the changes had the desired effect, avoiding unwanted consequences.
Use the insights that arise from monitoring to guide your approach to the transformative process. Promote changes in projects that are not working as desired, working together with the CAB and team leaders to keep everything on track.
6. Promote a culture that embraces change
Develop well-documented processes and responsibility transfer procedures, essential elements to ensure continuity and operational efficiency. Conduct regular training with your employees and create information repositories that are easy to access, provide necessary context, and are frequently updated.
Create feedback channels with your colleagues so they can share opinions and suggestions, aligning the transformation with the team’s needs and expectations. Keep multiple communication channels open between employees and the IT team, allowing them to access support in case of difficulties using new tools and software.
Conclusion
Change management is the approach that will help your organization adapt and thrive in a competitive and constantly changing environment. By using proven methodologies such as the McKinsey 7S Model, Kotter’s Eight Steps, or Lewin’s Model, companies can ensure a smoother and more successful transition.
The main benefits of change management include:
- Preparation and support for employees
- Control and monitoring of changes
- Facilitated adoption of new processes, technologies, and ways of working
- Alignment of support elements for transformations
Establishing clear governance structures, collecting employee feedback, and defining an appropriate implementation approach are crucial for effective change management. Additionally, promoting a culture that accepts and embraces change is fundamental to ensuring the sustainability of transformations.
Change management is not just about processes or technologies. Above all, it is about people and how to help them navigate transitions safely and productively. By promoting a culture that values adaptability and continuous learning, your organization will be better positioned to face today’s and tomorrow’s changes.
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