Being ready for change
Is your company ready for change? If not find out how to make it. This article was taken from Harvard ManageMentor the CPD resource available to members in the CPD resources/webcasts section of CIMA Professional Development.
For an organisation to implement change successfully, it must be change-ready - meaning that the people and structure of the organisation are prepared for and capable of change. How do you know when an organisation is change-ready? Typically, three conditions are present:
- First, effective leadership is in place at all levels in the organisation. Inept leaders are deterrents to organisational performance and ability to change. A company may have excellent pay, benefits, and employee-friendly policies, but if incompetent leaders are in place, its employees will not be motivated to change.
- Second, employees are personally motivated to change. Change happens when people are sufficiently dissatisfied with the status quo and are willing to make the effort and accept the risks involved in doing something new.
- Third, the organisation is accustomed to working collaboratively. Effective change demands collaboration between willing and motivated parties.
Prepare your group for change
If you manage a business unit or group, there are certain steps you can take to help your organisation become change-ready.
Encourage participation within your unit and develop more participative approaches to everyday business.
- Push decision making down to the lowest levels possible. Allowing others to make informed decisions, rather than imposing your own, increases the group's perception of their own effectiveness - and yours.
- Share information freely. Information is the lifeblood of any organisation. During times of change, getting and disseminating information is critical to operating effectively, flexibly, and quickly.
- Make communication a two-way process - talk but also listen, especially to people who are resistant to change.
- Get into the trenches with frontline employees to better understand the day-to-day issues that they face.
- Give people practice in collaborative work between functions by tackling problems and assigning projects through cross-functional teams.
- Help people see why the change is necessary.
Give your employees a voice
Employees who can freely express their ideas will feel more empowered to act. Encourage people to openly discuss their thoughts and feelings about the change programme. Work to understand resistance by exploring their concerns and by taking their feelings seriously. When people believe their voice counts, they are more apt to mobilise for change.
Drive fear out of your group
An organisational culture dominated by fear is incapable of serious change. Fear encourages everyone to avoid risks, become internally focused, and stop communicating. In addition, fear costs organisations money in the form of increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, and diminished quality of products and services.
While managers should aim to reduce fear, they should not deny the challenging aspects of the change itself - nor should they minimise the intensity of employees' reactions to it. Managers should openly acknowledge employees' concerns and work with them to support and embrace the change initiative.
Once an organisation is primed for transition, a change initiative can be rolled out.
Manage resistance to change
Resistance to change is an all-too-common obstacle facing managers. You can practice choosing strategies to manage resistance to change in the HMM ‘Change management’ module.
September 2009
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What did you think of this article? Email tim.cooper@cimaglobal.com.