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Organizations are constantly changing; external factors such as a pandemic, market trends, or even new government regulations can affect the goals and processes of a company. Internal factors can also influence an organization, whether the company has set new challenging objectives for that year, a new cultural approach, or a new manager or director coming in with new ideas.

However, “while businesses are frequently undergoing significant changes these days, about half of change initiatives fail, whereas only 34% report clear success”, says Mark Davis.

Change Management can be a solution for companies going through these processes. For this reason, more and more organizations are hiring Change Management experts to ensure smooth transitions and to guarantee that the company's objectives are met in the best way. But how exactly do they do it?


What is Change Management?

“Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization's goals, processes or technologies. The purpose of change management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change and helping people to adapt to change,” according to George Lawton.


According to MindTools, there are four steps all companies have to follow when implementing Change Management techniques.


4 Steps for Implementing Change Management

  1. Understand Change

    To successfully promote the benefits of the change, you need to understand them yourself. The company should think about why they need to change, key objectives, how it will impact people positively, and what they will need to do to achieve the change successfully.

  2. Plan Change

    Change projects can vary from organization to organization. Some have very rigid change methodologies, while others are more open and flexible in their approach. In addition, it is important to anticipate potential problems that may arise during the change process and to have a plan in place to deal with them.

    According to Harold L. Sirkin, Perry Keenan and Alan Jackson, companies must boost the commitment of two different groups of people. They must get visible backing from the most influential executives, and they must consider the enthusiasm—or often, lack thereof—of the people who must deal with the new systems, processes, or ways of working.

  3. Implement Change

    Kotter's 8-Step Change Model, for example, explains how to inject a sense of urgency into your actions so that you build momentum and encourage everyone to get behind your changes. Mainly the organization should ensure that everyone involved in the changes understands what needs to happen – and what it means for them and offer them support throughout the process.

  4. Communicate Change

    Communication can be a make-or-break component of change management. The change that you want to implement has to be clear and relevant so people understand what you want them to do and why they need to do it. But you also have to set the right tone to get the emotional reaction you're hoping for.

What are the challenges of change management, considering your own experience? Let us know in the comments section below.

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