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Organizations continuously evolve and adjust to meet emerging trends that range from technological changes to new competitors and shifts in laws and regulations.

Failure to do so could result in stagnation or worse for any business. And with over 50% of organizational change initiatives being unsuccessful, it is crucial to plan, coordinate and implement change in a more logical manner.

WHAT IS CHANGE MANAGEMENT?

In a nutshell, change management is a practice that guides organizational change from the stage of preparation to implementation and resolution. It involves actions an organization takes to adapt or change specific components such as company culture, technology, internal processes, systems, or corporate hierarchy. Generally, change management enables businesses to embrace change more effectively and efficiently while avoiding associated flops.

6 STEPS FOR SUCCESSFUL CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Your organization is constantly dealing with change; hence, it is essential to develop a strategic change management process to minimize disasters that could impact your organization and employees. With that in mind, here are six critical steps to adopt when integrating change management in your organization.

1. PREPARE FOR CHANGE

For a successful change management process, an organization has to prepare adequately both culturally and rationally. In this step, the manager has to let stakeholders and employees understand the company’s challenges and potential changes to manage these problems. This is crucial to avoid resistance and dissatisfaction when executing changes. Besides, it will help the implementation process, making the change successful.

2. VISION AND PLAN FOR CHANGE

Planning for change in your organization is imperative to outline the entire change process, including incentives, reviews, and analysis. As a rule, this defines the actual process of changes you intend to implement in your organization. Therefore, develop a systematic and realistic plan detailing goals, key performance indicators, stakeholders and staff involved, and the project scope. The layout should also include resources and total costs as well as potential challenges likely to affect the change.

3. ALLOCATE RESOURCES AND DATA

As part of the planning phase, you need adequate infrastructure, tools, and software systems to launch changes in your organization. It is essential to consider specialized tools to facilitate retraining, re-education, and other practices for the staff to adapt to changes. In addition, there should be models that identify data for analysis and promote clarity. This enables you to have better communication channels and timely distribution of incentives.

4. IMPLEMENT CHANGES

Once everyone is on board, including resources and funding, the next phase is to implement changes in the organization. Whether you’re changing your company structure, employee behavior, strategy, or other aspects, it is important to note that it relies on particular initiatives, goals, and means of implementation. In this step, focus on empowering your employees when implementing change while enhancing communication across different organizational departments. Let your team understand possible roadblocks and ways to address emerging challenges during the execution process.

5. INTEGRATE CHANGE WITH COMPANY CULTURE AND PRACTICES

As a change manager, your task is to ensure there isn’t a reversion once the change is in operation. Monitor organizational processes, culture, workflow, and practices to make sure they integrate well with newly introduced changes. This step allows you to embed changes in the company’s culture and strategies while enabling your employees to embrace change and avoid backsliding to older ways.

6. REVIEW PROGRESS AND EVALUATE RESULTS

The final step in change management is conducting a review of how the implementation affects your organization. It provides insights into whether changes introduced are practical or present employees with dependencies and resistance or straining your finances. Again, you get to evaluate results and improve where necessary to avoid failures during the early stages of change.

Questions regarding the change management process? Contact us to learn more and get started with change management here at Vision Helpdesk today!