Change management training

Change has been the basis of civilization since the beginning of human kind. The revolution, the change started then and carried on across ages and it will extend further more in to the future. Therefore, for any type of activity the saying “business as usual” refers actually to every day decisions that are modifying the direction of that activity. Change is very common in everyday life of one individual (the micro universe of one individual suffers many changes) but the major impact on life itself starts with the change in business. Change can involve the entire business or just few systems, it can reflect just a new initiative that is going to be implemented, or it can base itself on the idea of technology improvement.

Whether the change that is planned involves the entire aspects of your business or just a sector of production, you are fully aware that change has to happen and has to be implemented. Any business manger torments himself with very distressing questions about the way to produce this change and especially how to control the outcome of this change.

The theories about how to “enforce/implement” change are widely spread in the business community and were brought close to the rank of science by a very famous leadership and change specialist John Kotter. Being a professor at Harvard Business School, he has published in 1995 a book under the title “Leading Change” on how to produce change. An eight steps process on how to produce and implement change in an organization.

Below a short description of his theory:

The first step is described by the creation of the need to change (Create Urgency), which has to be urged by the whole company. Best results are going to be achieved if all personnel welcomes the proposed change. The statistics that managers show to personnel regarding sells decrease and the numbers for the success of the competition on the market are no longer sufficient to induce the necessity of change.

To create this Urgency you should first identify the threats to the business and based on those you should start building scenarios for the future including the outcome of every individual. The discussion you will lead towards examining the opportunities and the solutions on how to exploit them.

The discussions must be honest, dynamic and should be described with convincing reasons (you will get people to talk and to think about the problem and embrace the change faster); best convincing reasons come from consumers, give reasons supported by experts in the industry, and get the support of stakeholders to back your proposed change.

In the second step, a strong leader should find allies. The support of key people in the organization will build up “the Urgency”. You need to amplify your voice with the support of key people in the organization they are influencing the rest of the personnel to embrace change. There are leaders among your personnel win them over and maximize the chance for the change to happen.

The third step has to be visual. All great idea floating around should be summarized and a vision of change has to be created. People react better if they see the reasons for which you are asking them to do something differently than they do now (to actually change). The vision of change has to capture the central values of the change and see that everyone knows it (your allies must be able to describe the vision in five minutes or less) Practice makes perfect, so speak of the vision often.

You have prepared for the fourth step than, propagate the vision, communicate it. Hope you have made proper plans to communicate your vision because it has to stand out from the many conversations (verbal and written within the company) Use all the means available to you to engrave the vision in the mind of any person in the company and lead the way to the new reformed future of the company. You will have to address people’s concerns and try to ease their anxieties as these are the common obstacles in resisting to change.

This leads you to the fifth step towards managing the change you have so often promoted, removing obstacles that are setting in interfering with the trend of changing already set. There are some important rules in this crucial step forward in implementing change: You have to implement the structure for the change to happen and you have to check constantly for any obstacles. From this moment onwards there is no going back so you have to have the strength to deliver the change (if you cannot do it alone identify or even hire change leaders to move forward in delivering the change). A must do in these times of change is recognize and even reward any person that is delivering the change (the person that makes change happen, they will be your second best allies). Find the persons that are not ready for the change and help them to see the things your way (from this moment on, it is not your way anymore, it is the way of the company they are employed in), use your second best allies to get to the resisting to change employees.

You are almost there but do not jump any steps, do it the right way and take step six by introducing small steps victories. Help employees to see a better future and help them get the taste of a small victory. The best way to go is to create targets that have a short span to be accomplished (take one-step at the time to ensure that the long-term goal is achieved). When selecting targets, you should be extremely cautious, it can backfire (take a less costly option and a small step in change) if all goes well point is proven. Do not forget to reward the persons that succeeded in the new conditions.

It is not final yet the seven step underlines that one victory is not guaranteed success. Change has given you the first rewards but you still have to build on the change you have imposed. Here is the weak point in all change managements because managers are eager to declare victory but change is a long and deep process. Do not stop here build on your success, on every win you need to analyze and improve. You need to set yet another goal to be achieved. You might consider that success is close if you get 10 small wins in a row and follow the kaizen and the principle of continuous improvement.

Form this point on; you are on the verge to victory as the eight step is implemented. You just need to make the change to stick to all personnel. It has to become the foundation of your company’s culture. Vision has to be followed and the change has to be reflected in the daily activities of every individual in the company. Newcomers in the organization need to embrace the vision and to help consolidate what has been transformed in the soul of the company. Success stories are the common way to keep vivid in the mind of the staff, the long process of change that the company has had to undertake. Remember always to have key leaders ready to ensure that the hard work and the legacy is not lost as one of your key allies is moving on.

Change is not an easy process. Rushed, the results will surely be failure! Plan, build, implement, and improve, the key factors in change management. Follow the steps and you are guaranteed going in the correct direction for your corporation to finally embrace change much easier next time.