In today’s fast-paced world, change and transformation are increasingly present within organisations.
As one change programme ends, another begins.
Somewhere along the way, change has become the norm.
From advances in technology, to changes in organisational culture, or the development of new policies and processes, businesses will never be truly stagnant again.
And change like this can be hard on employees.
By nature, most of us are highly resistant to change. So, when it comes calling on your organisation’s door, it can be difficult to work out the best way to deal with it and ensure it is adopted for the good of the business.
Download our guide to managing change in your organisation here.
What is change management?
In simple terms, change management involves the approach you take to help your employees understand and adopt change in the way they work.
Change may be pursued by an organisation for a variety of reasons. For example;
- The economic climate
- Consumer demand and behaviour
- New technologies
- Competitive marketplace
- Rules and regulations
Why is change management so important?
Adjusting to change is not easy.
Especially when you consider that organisations can be volatile. Constant change can make a team resilient, but it can also burn them out.
For example, anything new in the way someone does their job is scary as it may inhibit how much they earn if they can’t grasp it quickly. This can sometimes lead to dissatisfaction in their job, a failure to hit targets and worse still, employee attrition. An unhappy employee also makes for unhappy customers – an outcome no organisation wants!
This is precisely why managing change is vital in your organisation.
There are numerous change management theories that abound, and we won’t bore you with a roundup of them all! To sum it up, successful adoption of change needs commitment from the top, clear communication and proper training.
But before any of that can happen, you need to understand how your team might react and cope with change so that you can plan an approach with each team member that gets their cooperation without conflict, resulting in a win-win outcome.
Download our guide to managing change in your organisation here.