The 7 Best Practices for Organisational Change Management
Organisational change has become increasingly important, due to the fact that businesses are faced with an ever-changing economic environment, and must constantly keep up with that change.
However, while some employees welcome change as a new opportunity, others feel threatened by it. Internal resistance to change is one of the biggest challenges to organisational change management.
For organisational change to work successfully in a company, everyone must be brought on board with the new way of doing things, so they can readily accept the changes. When members of an organisation are trained to be open to change, any organisational change will likely succeed, as everyone will be willing to adapt.
Changes can become necessary due to internal or external factors. In either case, the employees will need to change their mindsets and behaviour in alignment with the organisational changes. They will also need to follow a new set of policies, and all stakeholders must be fully committed to organisational changes to be a success.
Here we discuss a set of best practices for organisational change management that should be adhered by all stakeholders. These best practices should be aligned with the organisational values and the corporate strategy, to ensure sustainable success of the change initiative.
For a perfect change management project, all stakeholders must understand how they will be affected by this change. They must be equipped with the necessary tools that will help them overcome any challenge that may come up, and they should also receive full support from all levels of leadership as they make transitions to implement the change.
No matter the kind of change, or the size of the organisation, the best practices are usually quite similar. Here we discuss the 7 key best practices for organisational change management. Try to keep all of these practices in mind during a transition process to ensure success.
1. Keep everyone updated
All stakeholders must be updated regularly and kept informed of all the steps during the process of change management. This way, the stakeholders will provide full support, participation, and encouragement.
There must be an effective flow of communication between everyone involved. Employees should not be kept in the dark or only given a bare minimum of information. They must be able to ask questions and make their reservations known.
When people aren’t well informed about what change entails, they tend to resist it. But when they understand the background, they’re more likely to do all they can to make it work.
2. Detailed planning
For changes to be implemented successfully, a detailed plan must be generated in advance, and all possible end scenarios kept in mind.
The plan should include all necessary tasks as well as all critical stakeholders, and how they integrate with each other. The more specific and detailed the plan, the more likely it will succeed.
3. Leadership roles must be assigned
Specific organisational change leaders should be designated at all levels of the organisation. The leaders selected must be reliable, committed and influential. This way, they can influence others to get on board with the change initiative.
4. Resolve all workplace issues
When a change occurs, a lot of nerves can get strained, resulting in resistance if not dealt with correctly. Therefore, you must understand how the change is affecting your workforce and what issues they have with it.
Do all you can to resolve all these issues and address them. If you don’t fix these issues, the change may not be successfully implemented.
5. Look for change advocates
Often there are some members of the workforce that are more open to your proposed organisational changes. Try to find these people and obtain their help to get others onboard with the change.
The change advocates should be people that work well with others and enjoy their respect. They should also have well-developed leadership qualities.
Identify these advocates early, train them well and continuously engage with them, and they’ll help you to implement change successfully.
6. Define the decision-making structure
For successful organisational change management, the governance must be well defined.
There should be a clear framework of the roles, structures, and responsibilities across all levels of the organisation, in order for change to be implemented, and all stakeholders should be informed of this framework.
7. Review the change process regularly
It is necessary to constantly evaluate the change process and make adjustments as needed. When you review the change process, you can discover errors and correct them before they get fatal. This way you will know if the change process is going as planned and if it is going to be successful.
You can use both formal and informal channels to assess the process and review the progress. After you have made corrections, make another evaluation and get feedback on the corrections you have made.
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