Organizational Change Management – 6 Steps and Strategy

Organizational change management is defined as a framework that deals with changing needs and requirements of a company. It is a tool to develop, manage and implement cultural changes, changes in structure and the effects of new business processes like procedures and policies in an organization.

With the advent of new technologies in the global marketplace, business entities have started exploring new methods to deal with existing challenges. It has now opened itself to accept technological and structural changes as a necessity for further growth and development.

It is the workforce that is most affected by the change and this can result in discomfort amongst employees and disruption in the workplace. As human resources are one of the most important assets a firm has, it has started adopting strategies as a coping mechanism to evolve and thrive in these competitive times. Remember losing and then recruiting new employees is expensive as well as time-consuming process and it is important to avoid it if possible.

Organizational change management is a process that is associated with the skills, roles, and responsibilities of employees. It is a systematic approach that is levied throughout an organization so that the employees can learn new behavior and skills. It sets up expectations and encourages a commitment from employees to accept changes.

The organizational change management in actual fact enables a smooth transition. It encourages productive management behavior and positive employee attitude so that it can act as a guiding force to help the employees throughout their journey and the change.

6 Steps in effective organizational change management

1. Defining change and aligning it with business goals

The first step in effective organizational change management is to know the aspect that we need to change and understand why is the change required in the company. Conduct a critical review of the objectives as well as the performance goals of your company so that you can know whether the change will prod the firm in the right direction.

This will help in defining change and aligning it with business goals. Remember the first step of organization change management is a necessity as it will assist a company in determining the actual value of change so that it can estimate its ethical, financial and strategic impact on the business.

2. Impacts and effects

Once a business entity has successfully defined change and aligned it with its business goals it becomes a necessity to determine the impact of this change on the company. Determining the impact that the change can have at every level as well as on every business unit in the firm. Who is going to be most affected by this change is an important question that also needs to be addressed.

Understand how the impact can surge and flow throughout the organizational structure and affect the workforce individually and collectively. Another point that needs to be clarified is whether the incoming change will be accepted positively or will it have negative repercussions.

All this information paves the way in creating a strategy to determine whether and where support and training will be needed to mitigate the impacts and make the transition smooth.

3. Developing a communication strategy

In order to implement an effective organizational change management process, a business entity must go through every workforce profile and decide upon those whom it wants to integrate with change at the onset.

These are the employees that are important to the firm and whose approval matters. The organization wants them on the same page and thus wants to communicate the change to them. Think and then decide upon your plan of action so that the change can be communicated to them in an effective manner.

Two important questions that should be addressed at this particular time are how to communicate the change and how to manage the resulting feedback. There should be a specific timeline in which the organization should use effective communication channels and communicate key messages.

4. Offer helpful training

Now the employees are aware of the changes that will take place as the message has been sent out in the open. Make sure that the workforce is also aware of the fact that the company will be offering effective training to teach them the necessary knowledge and skills required for fulfilling their obligations effectively.

It is the company that needs to determine the behavior and skills necessary for achieving desired results and the various training options it will offer to make the change plausible.

5. Executing a support structure

What type of support will be needed and where will it be required are questions that need to address in this step. The company will offer support structures like counseling services, mentorship, and open-door policies to make the adjustments smooth.

6. Measuring the process

It is important to keep an eye on the process from the time of its inception to actual change to know about it in a thorough manner. This will help in measuring the change process help to determine its success.

Successful organizational change management strategies

• One of the most important strategies of a business entity for successful organizational management change is agreeing on implementing change in the firm
• It should nudge forward strong leaders from its management group who can communicate about the change in an effective manner
• A successful strategy is one where the organization is determined to make its employees aware of the positive impact of the change on them
• There should be a proper plan in place to implement strategies and later measure the effectiveness of the plan
• Measure progress, set your priorities and validate your metrics and initiatives as part of your strategy.
• The approach must include follow-up plans to know about successful as well as unsuccessful plans
• An important organization change management strategy includes offering social and monetary rewards so that the employees take up the mantle of responsibility and accountability by themselves.