Throughout my career — being a chief financial officer in companies big and small, being a corporate and nonprofit board member, and after this as CEO of a fast-growing privately held startup — I’ve learned to become change agent. It’s a badge I wear proudly, then one which has educated me in as to what works and just what doesn’t when managing change.
Every change initiative is different, though the truths about making change succeed are, by and large, the same. Here I’ve collected 10 truths about change management. Think of them like tools inside a toolbox — you must have them readily available, you have to know putting them to use so you need to determine the right time to pull them out and set them to work. That’s the progres agent’s main work.
1. Change is around people.
I lead an application company that gives a game-changing connected planning platform. Even though I believe that technology might help our organizations grow, evolve and improve, change management is ultimately about people. As leaders, we have to set the instance from the change we wish from the people around us. Because great NBA coach Phil Jackson said, “You can’t force your may simp people. If you’d like these to act differently, you have to inspire these to change themselves.” Not until you help individuals change could you aspire to change a business.
Related: 5 Principles for Dealing With Constant Change
2. Take the time.
Some changes are quick, but real, transformational change can — and quite often must — take years. We’re all amazed with how quickly things difference in Silicon Valley, and the power to react fast can be vital to survival. But, changing hearts, minds and ultimately culture (see No. 1) often can’t be achieved with the snap of one’s fingers.
3. Produce a vision.
Stake out in places you want a transformation to consider you at the beginning of Kogan Page Change Management Books. Know what success looks like. That doesn’t mean everything has to get fully baked from The first day. The truth is, stay away from doing that — since it means you haven’t engaged individuals who you need on board along with you. And don’t be rigid, because that will get in the way of success. (Read more about that inside a bit.)
Related: 5 Ways CEOs Can Empower Teams to produce Collaborative Workplaces
4. Engage your stakeholders.
This can be central to selling the vision you established. Find out the individuals who will be impacted by the progres, and get them involved and purchased the project and its success.
5. Acknowledge tradeoffs.
When we are inspired to change, be familiar with the effects. Think of it like pulling the loose thread on a shirt — sometimes it can cause some control to go away. In case you add resources — dollars, people, space or anything else — to at least one project, make an effort to know what usually takes a back seat. And time will be the ultimate finite resource, so if you ask a superstar who’s already working at capability to do something extra, know that her productivity in their “day job” might need to be shifted.
6. Help the willing.
Nobody inside your organization is going to get on board the progres train. That’s natural; some individuals may have means of thinking and working which might be incompatible in what you have to accomplish. So, while it’s probably the least fun section of change management, sometimes you have to make new individuals who share your vision, and released individuals who don’t. I don’t must tell you that staff changes are expensive, though the costs of misalignment and wasted time on resisters are very much greater.
7. Overcommunicate — then communicate even more.
I’ve used every medium imagine to communicate about change. Town halls, emails, newsletters, intranet sites, videoconferencing, collaboration tools — every one has a location. Occasionally, it’s appropriate to share with you internal change with people beyond your organization, possibly even everyone. For example, basically we were transforming Cisco’s finance department from the number-crunching machine in to a strategic business partner, we published a Q&A from the Wall Street Journal for the project. People active in the effort shared the piece around, and took greater pride from the work — and a few people we hadn’t been able to reach by other methods finally understood might know about were trying to do.
8. Listen.
The communication I just described can’t be considered a one-way street. You have to hear those who are making the progres, and hear the folks impacted by the progres. That doesn’t mean you value all feedback equally, or give the people who find themselves complaining more hours. But look challenging for the useful nuggets as to what people tell you, and plow it well to your plans. You might say, this can be the extended type of engaging your stakeholders (No. 4).
9. Empower the silent majority to talk up.
Once you listen (No. 8), you’re planning to hear a number of voices the loudest. Remember that they’re not always speaking for most people. So, give the silent majority a number of solutions to make their voices heard: Anonymous polls and surveys might help, but they can you have to train and encourage people to talk up. Going one situation by which someone posted an incredibly negative, scathing comment with regards to a project in a really public forum. As an alternative to engage in this particular public platform, an abandoned but valued member of my team emailed him directly and very respectfully invited him to talk — one-on-one, directly — about his concerns and helped focus on a solution. He immediately backed down, and my team member then asked him to consider back his reply to the same public forum. He did.
Related: Why Problem Solvers, Not Whiner, Always Win running a business
10. Learn as you go.
Challenges will arise as organizations change; the success or failure of one’s change management effort hinges on how you answer those challenges. For example, since the finance team at Cisco became strategic business advisors (as an alternative to simply back office human calculators — see No. 7), some individuals found themselves in unfamiliar territory. We were holding brilliant accountants, but had gaps within their business knowledge. We addressed this by creating new learning opportunities and career development paths for folks in finance. The same is possible in different part of your company.
When i noted earlier, not every these truths sign up for every situation. And admittedly, none of the things is particularly novel, but that doesn’t mean they’re hard to overlook. The company landscape is suffering from change management projects that failed for reasons which might be, looking back, painfully obvious.
But, every one of these truths is nuanced, and success depends on their application. The wisdom of change management is always to know which tool to work with, then when for doing things. And that’s where leadership comes in.
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