Change is inevitable

The world we live in is constantly revolving and it affects our daily lives.

Evolving brings about reinforcements into new methods or strategies concerning how we tackle every challenge we come across or implementation of new theories.

The same scenarios we face in life applies to the business environmental cycle thus we can conclude change is inevitable.

Ever since globalisation and technology came to life organisations have been going through and applying necessary changes.

Change is good but the bottom line is not everyone can accept change and because of it many companies have shut down as a result of refusing to adjust.

The Covid-19 saga made it clear that businesses need to accept and be ready for changes because with lockdowns affecting daily routines organisations had to normalise the abnormal.

A lot of firms have succumbed to competition because of failure to change. A change is the project, initiative or solution being introduced in the organisation to improve the way work is done, solve a problem, or take advantage of an opportunity.

Change is an organisational reality. External forces for change include the marketplace, government laws and regulations, technology, labour markets, and economic changes.

Internal forces of change include organisational strategy, equipment, the workforce, and employee attitudes. Change is generally a response to some significant threat or opportunity arising outside of the organisation.

Changes within an organisation takes place both in response to business and economic events and to processes of managerial perception, choice and actions. Managers in this sense see events taking place that, to them, signal the need for change.

Nearly, any project, initiative or solution that improves an organisation will affect how employees do their day-to-day work which then leads to change resistance.

Therefore, it becomes the objective of top management to enforce solid change management strategies. Change management is the application of a structured process and set of tools for leading the people side of change to achieve a desired outcome.

The idea of becoming “more competitive” or “closer to the customer” or “more efficient” can be the motivation for an organisation to change, but at some point, these goals must be translated into specific impacts on these processes, systems, tools, and this is where change management comes in.

It is not enough to merely prescribe the change and expect it to happen. Successful change starts with an understanding of what must take place to make the change happen, as well as hard work.

Any organisational change will have both a technical side and a people side, and each requires separate resources and tools to bring the change to fruition.

Virtually, every organisation will, at some point, undergo a transition or change in order to remain viable and scale. Whether onboarding new employees, growing a department, or merging with another company, these changes can have a significant impact on the trajectory of your business.

Unfortunately, organisational change isn’t always easy to adapt to and can be intimidating for all team members who find themselves impacted by it.

As a manager or business owner tasked with overseeing organisational change or guiding your employees through it, it’s important to know what the process looks like and what to expect.
Change, although challenging, can be a major opportunity for growth and career advancement, so long as you know how to approach it.

Organisational change refers to the actions in which a company or business alters a major component of its organisation, such as its culture, the underlying technologies or infrastructure it uses to operate, or its internal processes.

Organisational change management is the method of leveraging change to bring about a successful resolution, and it typically includes three major phases: Preparation, implementation, and follow-through.

To prepare for organisational change, it’s essential to first define the organisational change, understand why it’s critical, and garner support from your colleagues. Then, create a roadmap that clearly articulates and measures success, and explains how the business and its employees, customers, and constituencies will be affected.

Ensure the process plan aligns with business goals and outlines the implementation and sustainability of the organisational change. Note what challenges may arise and be flexible enough to adjust accordingly.
Be sure to celebrate small victories along the way.

Change management doesn’t stop once you’ve successfully executed the transition. Both throughout and following the process, you need to continuously assess outcomes, measure data, train employees on new methodologies and business practices, and readjust goals as necessary.

Although every employee is important in initiating change within an organisation it is often the burden of a manager. Managers are more concentrated on making business transitions successful.
They focus on implementing change by determining the discrete steps that need to happen and their sequence. Managers are also typically responsible for allocating resources, such as personnel, and determining how success is measured.

Ideally, leaders will also be managers, but it’s the primary responsibility of a manager to know how to design, direct, and shape change processes.

To achieve this, managers must have a wide array of skills, such as the ability to communicate clearly and effectively and this includes actively listening to their team and colleagues, a highly developed level of emotional intelligence, strong organisational skills, an eye for detail problem-solving and decision-making skills and delegating without micromanaging.

Different types of organisational change will require different strategies. Everything from the implementation plan to the communication should be tailored to the type of change you want.
Before you begin strategising for change, an individual should consider if the change to be implemented is strategic, structural, people-centric, or remedial.

Strategic and structural changes may call for additional training and gradual transitions, while a remedial change would require immediate action.

People-centric changes, on the other hand, benefit from a well-thought-out change management communication strategy, so you can navigate emotional reactions. The first type of organisational change is strategic transformational change whereby minor modifications to existing tools or policies will influence but not completely redefine a business.

Big changes, on the other hand, transform companies. Whether that transformation is positive or disastrous depends on the strategy used to make it. All changes will affect some aspects of a company, but not all changes are transformational and examples of this form of change could be a company updating its mission as it grows or introducing new technology.

Another type of change is the people centric organisational change which focuses more on employees and instituting new parental leave policies or bringing on new hires.

Changes to roles and responsibilities of employees as well as training and development is included in the people centric organisational change. Structural changes involve major shifts in the management hierarchy, team organisation, and the responsibilities attributed to different departments, employees, or teams.
These changes often overlap with people-centric changes as they directly affect most, if not all, employees. The perfect example of an organisation going through structural change would be that of a company performing a merger and acquisition agreement or creating of new teams and departments.
The last form of organisational change is remedial change. Remedial changes are reactionary.

This type of change occurs when a problem is identified, and a solution needs to be implemented.
As these changes are designed to address an issue; they call for immediate action. Reactionary change may not be ideal, but it’s inevitable. The benefit of the remedial change is that judging its success is quick and simple such as dealing with a loss of talent or addressing customer communication issues.

One of the biggest disadvantages of change management goes back to the basic premise that you can’t predict the future. It’s smart to have change management protocols ready to go for likely possibilities. But sometimes life takes strange twists and turns.

Maybe you never planned for the possibility of your office being hit by a tornado because you live in an area where tornadoes are extremely rare. Or maybe you never predicted that civil unrest and violence would break out in your city because it has always been a peaceful place. And yet, these things can happen.

In short, the limitations of change management are directly related to the limitations of our imagination. And we also don’t have the time or budget to create change management models for the most obscure events.

Instead, we can plan for what’s likely to happen based on current trends with the economy, politics, environment and changing technology.

Organisational change is a business necessity. Employees leave, and new employees are hired, new teams and departments are created as the company grows, and businesses adopt new technology to stay ahead of the curve.

The key to successful, productive organisational change is the way you manage it. It’s vital to keep employees in the loop and ensure that they understand what the changes are and how employees will be affected.

With effective organisational change management, you can keep the business running smoothly during the transition. For example, offering training options helps employees learn new technology faster.
That way, they fully adopt the technology, and the organisational change isn’t bogged down by support tickets and frustrated users.

By identifying the types of organisational change, you will be implementing, you can make a plan for keeping employees informed. You can ask for feedback as you implement the change and then make adjustments to your change management plan so that your team has the support, they need to maintain high morale and facilitate the change from their end.

Organisational change is necessary for companies to succeed and grow. Change management drives the successful adoption and usage of change within the business.

It allows employees to understand and commit to the shift and work effectively during it. Without effective organisational change management, company transitions can be rocky and expensive in terms of both time and resources.

They can also result in lower employee morale and competent skill development. Ultimately, a lack of effective change management can lead the organisation to fail.

Designing a change implementation strategy before identifying the type of change you are dealing with is like skipping to chapter 10 in a mystery novel and expecting to solve the crime.

You’re setting yourself (and your change) up for failure. Take a step back and think about why the change needs to happen. Consider the obstacles.

Think about who and what the change affects. When you truly understand the type of change, you’re making, you can dive into strategy because every change involves a learning curve.