Build It. Massage It. Achieve Success!
Fort Worth Independent School District … Tarrant County College … Catholic Charities/Fort Worth Diocese … Tarrant Regional Water District … Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (which is on its second interim director) — what do all of these successful organizations have in common? All are or recently have been in react mode, attempting to manage the change caused by upheaval in senior leadership situations.
Every sector of business, every non-profit, every school — it’s probably fair to imagine there isn’t an organization currently in operation that isn’t navigating some series of change initiatives in their leadership, workforce or organizational culture. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation have and continue to bring transformational change to every organization.
We at The Change Agents care about businesses having the sufficient resources and change management skills to successfully lead the change effort in their own organization.
The Important Thing to Know about Organizational Change
The truth is how you approach organizational change matters — and it’s not a question of if it comes to your business or organization, but when. Any kind of change caused by an upheaval in senior leadership situations calls for highly effective change management or crisis management. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to be ready to manage such moments with a structured approach that includes designing organizational change, implementing change, managing change and embracing change.
Handled poorly, organizational change can significantly weaken a group. If, however, the project objectives listed above are met, we believe your executive leaders will be stronger, employee morale and day-to-day work will grow, and key stakeholders will feel assured.
Simply put, being prepared for organizational change is among the most important business strategies an organization can employ.
Designing New Processes to Lead to Desired Outcomes
The Change Agents find that focusing on the facts and consequences of change efforts is premature. Other factors are involved and the process really starts with an understanding of the organization’s capacity for change initiatives, or what David Michels and Kevin Murphy refer to as a company’s “change power.”
As current business landscapes are evolving so rapidly and unpredictably, we need to ensure that companies and their executive and senior leaders have the capacity to recognize, process and address disruptions effectively. Otherwise, change resistance shows its ugly head and management’s approaches won’t sustain desired outcomes, leaving companies perpetually bound to a rollercoaster of constant disruption and negative outcomes.
Knowing your organization’s level of “change power” will give you clear eyes to forge ahead in managing change as it arrives on your doorstep.
Build Up Your “Change Power” Now, Not Later
The best time for an organization to undergo a change management process is pre-crisis. This tactic in organizational change management starts with designing a culture where employees are more comfortable and practiced with embracing change.
Often, for an employee to embrace change, leadership at all levels — project managers, middle management and executive leaders — must be comfortable with it first. For leaders to motivate people and oversee change projects, they need to be able to support team members, be prepared to effectively communicate about the changes, answer questions as openly as possible, and be ready to offer quality strategies for how their individual teams and any team member can continue to achieve success. Current processes may be changing, but leadership comfortably (and honestly) leading the way forward is a major opportunity for a business/organization to grow together.
Practice With Small Organizational Changes
It’s possible for an organization or business to practice major crisis management organizations change by getting comfortable with everyday business changes that come and go. Think of it like getting reps in at the gym. Before there’s a serious problem, there’s a huge opportunity to practice successful change management through smaller, more incremental events.
Necessary adjustments or major changes are needed from time to time for any business or group to continue to grow and for smaller businesses, transformational changes can occur with new technologies and new systems and processes. Successfully leading employees through these smaller changes will lay the groundwork when something like a merger or acquisition comes about, a company is rocked with bankruptcy, or the group experiences a major change in leadership.
As we said earlier, it’s not a question of if an organizational change will happen, but when. By practicing with smaller change projects, you’ll be prepared to implement major changes in management or processes when the time comes. Plus, you’ll be in a better position to handle the division dramatic organizational changes so often bring.
Implement Change and Expect a 40-60 Divide in Corporate Culture
A consensus of research shows nearly 40% of employees are motivated people who support change and are okay with leaving their comfort zone. They see promise for the future.
But major changes cause 60% of team members to have higher stress. Such cases of change also have them feeling their future has been derailed.
Historically, consultancies have been laser-focused on the disruptions of change within organizations and the necessary adjustments needed to anticipate them, attack them and respond to them. That’s necessary work, of course. At The Change Agents though, we like to focus on finding common ground between differing perspectives. This can be an arduous, educational and rewarding experience. The end result of a stronger understanding of the other side can lead to invaluable growth — the kind of growth that a business needs to weather a change project and come out, on the other side, stronger and, dare we say, more unified.
You need to understand that as you make a change, a large percentage of your employees will struggle to adjust — whether it’s a new technology, process or leadership. For a successful change process and unity to be achieved, you much also make sure strong communication is part of your plan.
Manage Change with One-on-One Conversations and Effective Communication
A few years ago, Patti Sanchez wrote a fantastic article for the Harvard Business Review about the secret to leading organizational change. Can you guess what the secret ingredient is?
Empathy.
Patti begins the article by explaining that she was working with a CEO on major changes to her company that would affect every single employee — project teams, management, organizational leaders, everyone. She writes, “When I sat down with the CEO and her executive team to think through their communication plan, I asked not about the change itself, but about how her employees might feel about what’s ahead. We started with her team because, in my work as a communication consultant, I’ve observed the same thing time and time again: how information is communicated to employees during a change matters more than what information is communicated. A lack of audience empathy when conveying news about an organizational transformation can cause it to fail.”
She goes on to write, “Studies on organizational change show that leaders across the board agree: if you want to lead a successful transformation, communicating empathetically is critical. But the truth is that most leaders don’t actually know how to do it.”
Empathy is critical to effective communication which, in turn, is key to any change initiative. No matter your leadership style, you must communicate change well and that means delivering it with empathy. Involve individuals at every organizational level. Listen to the feedback your employees have to share. Tell people what they can expect. And use empathy in every step of the process.
Embrace Change with Five Basic Change Efforts
What does successful change management look like? Here are several factors and questions to consider as you work towards leading successful change.
1. Who are you? Keep purpose, people and gaps the focus.
By focusing on your purpose, your people and the gaps preventing you from reaching your potential, you will have the best likelihood of a united front among all business units. Keeping a single vision gathers everyone together to embrace change as a means of doing business rather than an outside force that disrupts, distracts or exploits your business.
Remembering who you are and why you exist as an organization will guide the way as you pursue new project objectives and a change initiative.
2. Where are we going? Align leaders, team members and stakeholders with a common vision.
Most organizations’ vision — short-term and long-term — is a defining factor in its ability to weather and, ideally, harness the power of change. More than words on a page, a company’s vision is the dynamism that allows executive leadership, employees, customers and key stakeholders to support change toward success. A shared vision is what all members of your team can hold on to as they navigate what, otherwise, may feel uncomfortable or even scary.
3. What land do you walk on? Consider a new map.
In other words, how you have been doing things may not be how you need to continue doing things. From processes to management, the status quo is almost certainly no longer the correct road map for your organization.
By taking a look at where you are and where you want to go, you’ll be able to clarify the operational road map of your business. This work includes examining your structure, governance, inputs/outputs, and where you, your employees and customers think you are headed versus where you actually may be headed. Quality one-on-one conversations within teams, an exploration of company culture, and measuring resistance to change versus major opportunities should also be a part of the process.
The process of considering a new map will also ground you in your purpose and future planning. Knowing where you are going and figuring out how to get there is a process that requires input from people at all levels as well as change sponsors who believe in the changes that are being made.
4. How do you move? Find early supporters for change.
By examining and strengthening the social side of change, our work creates or shores up the network of influencers to reach desired outcomes that enable a robust capacity for change-culture, leadership/governance, structure, and process.
In other words, for change to successfully happen within your organization, you will need to rely on the relationships you’ve built between executive leadership and management, management and team members and team member to team member. A basic level of trust and understanding is critical.
In the early stages of carrying out a change, look for leaders at all levels who can act as change initiative cheerleaders. These people believe in the change and can speak supportively for it. They can also listen to fellow employees who be more hesitant to embrace the change.
Communication — or lack thereof — within your organization impacts the mindset of your business and its bias for change. It cannot be undervalued as a way of managing change as it impacts the choreography of your business, including its innate adaptability and agility, the absorption rate for change, and how moves are prioritized and sequenced for impact.
5. What to do when you get “there.”
Know what to say next.
When it comes to carrying out a change and moving forward, many managers do just that — move forward and never stop. The problem with that mode of operation is when the leaders don’t remember to stop, look around, check in with their people and give regular updates to those who aren’t involved in the day-to-day change project outcomes. New organizational structures take time to work their way through a large organization. The change may feel “normal” to executive leadership before it fully reaches the lower levels of the organization. That’s why stopping from time to time and openly communicating the current status of the change implementation — both internally and to key stakeholders — is critical to success.
It can’t be said enough: For change to be successful, a company needs its people to understand the change as much as possible. How you communicate that change (as we talked about earlier, with empathy) will make the difference in success or failure. With every move you make, communicate as clearly as you can with your teams.
Know what to do next.
What happens when the change initiative you worked so hard to bring into your organization becomes the norm? The truth is that as your organization reaches a new level of normalcy, it won’t be long before a new change comes up and over the next hill.
Yes, take a breath and enjoy the success of your organizational change, but be prepared to face the next big challenge:
- Continue exercising your muscles for addressing and carrying out change at every organizational level.
- Continue communicating with empathy.
- Be available to the team members who are part of the 60% concerned with this and future changes.
Change management can be an accelerator or a disabling disruptor. How a company talks about organizational change and deals with implementing change can be instrumental in its ability to harness the power of change. Make a plan now, so you’re ready to implement change when the time comes.
Remember the Benefits of Organizational Change
There’s no denying that organizational change is a daunting task — and, there are no easy shortcuts to carrying it out successfully. Add on top of that the figure by Harvard Business Review that the failure rate of such changes hovers at 70% and, well, that’s enough of a reason to want to stay right where you are.
The truth, though, is that your organization must grow and change to continue on towards its next chapter.
Maybe you are looking at a change in executive leadership, management styles, with key roles or direct reports. Perhaps it’s the technology in your sector or pursuing a new revenue stream. It may be planned or taking everyone by surprise. No matter the change, there is potential to work it to the ultimate benefit of your organization.
Navigate Organizational Change Initiatives with The Change Agents
These factors, and others, ensure businesses and organizations have the focus, capacity, and resilience to not only weather change, but thrive in the face of it. An inevitable part of life, change, and our ability to manage and leverage it is a fundamental part of business practices today. With concentrated effort, every company can embrace new approaches and improve its critical change capacity.
There’s a reason that places like Harvard Business School and Wharton Business School offer executive programs on leading organizational change — it’s a critical part of any leader’s work.
If you are considering a change in your organization or wondering how you will weather your next organizational change, we are here to help. We’ll help you measure your company’s capacity for embracing change as well as its level of ongoing and effective responsiveness to change. We’ll help you make a plan for navigating these deep and tricky waters, come alongside you as you work to keep empathy in your communication and shine a light on corners and groups of your organization you may not be thinking of with every decision.
Let’s get started at www.thechangeagents.us.