Change is hard. It’s challenging to implement and even harder to stick to. Here are five ways you can make your change management strategy more effective:
Step 1: Set your goals
The first step to implementing change management is setting goals. Before you get started, it’s important to define the problem you want to solve and define your goals.
You don’t want to be so ambitious that you end up failing, so make sure your goals are attainable and realistic. Think about how long it took for a goal in another area of your life – like fitness – and what kinds of changes could be made within this time frame (three months, six months).
Examples:
- I want to introduce in system processes within my organisation in the next six months
- I want to increase revenue streams in the next year
Step 2: Define your change structure
This is the step where you tie your goals back to the business strategy and make sure they’re aligned. You might find your goals don’t align with the rest of the company’s, or that there are some gaps in what you’ve set out to achieve.
This is also a good time to have a think about how these changes will affect people—not just what they are doing differently, but also how they feel about it and how comfortable they are with it.
Finally, consider if there are other factors at play here—for example, do you need extra support from management? If so, make sure this is on the table during this conversation as well!
Step 3: Communicate with your team
You’ve got your change management strategy in place, and you know what to do. Now it’s time to communicate with your team! Communication is key when implementing change management. You need the right people on board if you want a successful project, so let them know how important they are in making this happen. If you can get their buy-in and support, then there won’t be any resistance or pushback when it comes time for implementation.
The best way to communicate about change management is person-to-person (or face-to-face). It might seem slow and inefficient, but nothing beats having an actual conversation with someone who needs convincing on why something should be done differently than before—and getting that person invested in making a difference themselves, instead of just following along blindly without knowing why anything has changed at all.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from research into human behavior over the years: not everyone responds well when told what needs doing or told what will happen next (unless those things are fairly obvious). Some people need more information than others before they feel comfortable agreeing with an idea or suggestion; some want more details about how something works before accepting its existence outright; others still just want reassurance that everything will work itself out somehow even though we don’t know how yet–which means asking questions like “How will [this] affect me?” “What happens next?” And “Why does this make sense?”
Step 4: Create a training plan
The final step in the change management process is to create a training plan that will help your team adjust. Your training should be tailored to their needs and delivered in an engaging, memorable way. It should also be repeated at regular intervals, with ongoing opportunities for learning.
Step 5: Track the change
Once you’re through the first four steps, you can use a change management tool to track progress over time. Change management tools will help you measure your success against your original goals, and they can help you identify areas where improvement is needed.
Step 5: Track the change
(1) Use metrics to measure success
(2) Measure against your original goals
Change is hard, but there are strategies that can make it more successful.
Change is hard. It can be stressful and overwhelming for people, even when it’s an exciting change. The more we know about the best ways to prepare for and implement change, the greater chance we have of achieving our goals.
Change management is a process that helps organizations adjust to changes in their environment or business strategy. It involves ensuring employees are aware of why the change is happening, how it will affect them, what resources they need to meet its goals and expectations (including training), and how they should communicate with each other about it moving forward (like through memos).
To make sure your changes are successful:
- Tell people why you’re making them—and give them time to digest this information before moving on to other steps like training or communicating with each other about the change.
Change is hard, but there are strategies that can make it more successful.
Change management is an art form, and I hope these tips will help you on your journey to becoming a master change agent!
If you or your organisation need expert support, then please contact me today to chat about how I can assist.
