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Implementing Change
‘Change management’ was a hot phrase some years ago.
Although the term’s use has faded it’s still the case that the business
environment is constantly changing and firms have to be able to
implement change at all levels to keep up.
Unsettling changes continue to affect our daily lives. Mergers and
acquisitions vie with corporate ‘downsizings’ in numbers of personnel
and other statistical measures like the number of a company’s service
stations or bank branches.
Then there are age-related changes that those least likely to want are
forced to accept. CEOs are appointed to major corporates while still in
their 30s. Legions of 50-year old executives are shown the door.
Because your people are
important to your success, here are some things to watch out for if
you’re about to implement a program of change in your business.
1. Don’t try to impose change on
the unwilling. Every organization that has succeeded in a major
change program has done so because it sold its people on the need for
change and made it possible for them to accept it.
2. Communication is critical to
gaining acceptance of change. Your reasons need to be fully
explained in such a way that everybody understands why change is
important to the business. Encourage questions about what you’re
planning and be sure to provide full and honest answers.
3. Develop a mechanism for
measuring change that’s visible to everyone on the team. If
you’re moving to a new system or way of doing things, create
‘milestones’ and show how far along the path towards change the
organization has moved.
4. Don’t use acceptance or
nonacceptance of change as a means of assessing a team member’s value.
Some will always be quicker to ‘get with the program’ than others and
those that lag behind shouldn’t become targets. Focus instead on the
overall change program and don’t let anything become a personal issue.
5. Change often involves
sacrifice. In some instances it means cutbacks in either budgets
or personnel. These sacrifices must be recognized and not glossed over.
Their impacts will be felt and those who run the business will have to
accept the responsibility.
6. You have to change too.
If your team is expected to accept new ways of doing their work you need
to be seen to also change in the way you do yours. When a change program
is designed it should be seen to apply throughout the business and not
just to a select group that will see themselves as ‘victims’.
7. If change is used as a weapon
it can become something that’s feared, thereby increasing resistance to
it. Businesses that use a change program as a means of ridding
themselves of troublesome staff are asking for problems because
survivors start to ask: ‘Who’s next?’ and that becomes their focus.
8. Reward successful change.
If an organization is able to successfully implement a major program of
change it should reward its people for their help. Celebrate the
conclusion of the change program in a public way. Make sure the business
thanks those who’ve helped it change.
9. Be there to listen. By
all means ask questions throughout the process but be sure to hear the
answers before making your own comments By showing a genuine concern you
will lay the foundations of trust with those who are most affected by
the change.
10. Have a clear vision of the
future and communicate it. Don’t begin a program of change unless
you know exactly what it’s going to deliver. Start with the end in mind
and let everyone know what it’s going to be. Give them a chance to view
it for themselves and accept it.
Organizations are made up of people, and people aren’t always happy to
accept change. If change is imposed too quickly on team members it can
have negative and detrimental effects, leaving them unmotivated and less
productive than before. Go about it the right way and you’ll gain their
support and commitment.
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