Change Leadership: Getting it Right
At some point every organisation comes face to face with the need for fundamental and possibly transformational change. The decision to change may be prompted by a variety of circumstances: a sharp slide in profitability, enticing new prospects in distant markets, the gathering threat of fleet-footed competitors. Whatever the motive, leaders seldom meet greater demands on their skills than they do when they embark on a major change effort.
As the global economic recovery begins and companies start to once again formulate expansion plans this should be the time to become more visible; more commercial in thinking and more proactive and innovative. Usually crises are unforeseen, sudden and almost always need swift reaction. In contingency planning it makes great sense to remember Murphy’s Law; anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. So we should do everything in our power to mentally and physically prepare ourselves for the unexpected.
When an organisation attempts a transformation focused on its operations, a sound plan and a robust execution strategy are not necessarily enough. Another important factor in the success of this type of initiative—involving everything from simplifying processes and improving the efficiency of equipment to modifying an entire supply chain—is the designation of specific employees as “change agents” who lead the organisation through the change journey.
Change agents are leaders who cut across the organisation and its business units/departments without regard to the traditional hierarchy. Directly or indirectly, they implement new processes, train employees on new procedures, and act as role models to demonstrate new and better ways to work. For example, change agents might spend more than 50 percent of their time visiting areas undergoing change, auditing progress, or advising managers on how to improve performance.
In order to effectively orchestrate a corporate change management programme, managers first need to understand some fundamental differences about people and how they can react and resist change. Managing and leading the change process is a critical phase of the process which knowledge sharing and strong open communication can support. Engaging employees in a change programme will certainly help. Staff retention rates are often at their highest during or immediately after a major change event, therefore taking the time to understand employee concerns through engagement will help to reduce this. Engagement can also affect customer service, financial performance and the ultimate well being of organisations; all areas that need to remain consistent during a change programme.
This is a guest post by Susie Andrade, a BPP Education Professional from Guernsey and is a founding CMI Ambassador.
For further information on managing change please contact Susie on 267961 or at susieandrade@bpp.com
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Comments
Great post - of course one of the most important aspects of leading organisational change is the fact that the people at the top really have to believe in and commit to it. Too often they want it to happen but pay lip service to it. They have to be seen to be making the change as well.
So the board room is the starting point and any dissenters not willing to change have to go.
I have been involved in a major change programme and the culture - particularly breaking down the silos, ending the turf wars and challenging the 'becuase we always do it like that syndrome - started to change from the top down. The senior executive team spent months themselves getting it right before roll out and they all helped run sessions to show commitment. They didn't just tell someone else to do it. This had a significant effect and, although a lot of the roll out was conducted by othe employees (from all levels and divisions rolling out to executive team right through to the messengers) one member of the senior executive team opened every session and another one closed it.
The rest of the stuff, like change agents, checking on progress, signposting where you are, celebrating succes, etc etc all follows on from this.
I've always found that where there is the requirement to change, there is also, somewhere, the desire to change within at least some of the staff, but often they are unsure what they would like to change or what the "new" should look like.
Sharing vision and engaging these enthusiasts early helps to bring round the more reluctant to change and I've always found that if that is peer-to-peer influence, it is much more effective.
People are less likely to buy into "another management initiative" but seem happier to listen to the views of their colleagues (the change champions).
I've also worked in places where they have some kind of suggestion scheme. Managers complain because it is under subscribed and staff complain because no-one responds to their suggestions, therefore involvement has to be a two way process, like any good communication should be, with a response and perhaps even an explanation of why the suggestion was not viable on this occasion if that is the case.
People are more inclined to become involved where they see an opportunity to help shape the vision for the future, rather than being dragged through the change.
Nice post Susie! I'll be taught by BPP staff in just a couple of week in London actually - rather looking forward to the experience now that I know they're lead with good thought leadership.