Maybe you’ve been in this situation.
Leadership made the decision to transition to a new sales tool due to the opportunity to yield better project margins. When the decision was made, the leadership team emailed the sales staff and asked them to make a few adjustments to their processes. It seemed simple enough.
But this was an organizational change, and without proper change management consulting, it was misconstrued by the sales team, as well as the rest of the organization, as a change from seeking best-in-class solutions to maximizing profit.
Leadership was left puzzled by the lack of progress as well as the fact that sales seemed to decline.
What happened?
In this post, we’ll speak to the value of organizational change management to ensure you know how to avoid this scenario.
What is change management?
Any change in operations, tools, technology, or process is also a business change. And just like any other facet of work, it needs to be managed well for the change to be successful. As conveyed in the scenario above, successful change isn’t as simple as a leader sending an all company email and watching change happen. Change requires an intentional level of communication and human interaction from all levels of the business. People affected by organizational change need to know:
- What is changing
- How it is changing
- Why it is changing
Growing up working for a family-owned-and-operated business, change happened fast – and we didn’t have a formal management plan. With only four of us, we usually caught up and aligned on the what, how, and why at night around the dinner table. As a leader—unless you are inviting your entire staff to dinner every night—you better have a plan to manage change in the business. Because without a plan, there is a potential cost to pay.
Are there Costs Associated with a Lack of Change Management?
If your team doesn’t know what is changing, they will struggle to accept the change. Perhaps less obvious is that your staff may know something is changing, but if they don’t understand how—or why—it is changing, they will struggle to adapt to the change.
More often overlooked and most important is why the change is happening. If people know what and how they can potentially adapt to the change and perform as required. But without the why, they will do little to support others or promote the change. When lacking a why people may assume the worst and start to believe they are going to lose their job to automation, the company is about to be acquired, or it is the first step toward layoffs. Instead of building supporters, you could be building detractors.
What is the Value of Organizational Change Management Consulting?
According to a Gallup poll, 70% of projects fail due to a lack of change management. But when your team understands why a change is required and how it will improve their work life, you have gained allies for the change. Your employees will work to not only make themselves successful but enable others to succeed. People are empowered by a purpose. By helping people see the purpose—why a change is required—you will empower your employees to support the change beyond their immediate job requirement.
Leaders at all levels of the organization can help convey what, how, and why to their teams, peers, and, at times, their bosses. Organizational change management is a plan to get as many people as possible talking about the change in an informed way. If you can create this positive wave of internal communication about the change then you have achieved an important step in your overall change management plan and are on the way to a successful project.
Resultant’s Change Management Capabilities
According to Kinsey, 70% of organizations are undergoing transformational change. If your organization is either already undergoing or about to undertake a serious change in business operations, Resultant can help you construct the appropriate change management plan.
Our team helps you build communication around what, how, and why. And then we provide training to organizational leaders and managers to help them become comfortable with the discipline, repetition, and measurement required by the organizational change management plan.
If you need assistance making a change in your organization, contact us today. We are ready to help equip you with the tools needed to make your plan successful.
