Change is the most constant phenomenon in the world. It’s a catalyst for growth and innovation. Numerous studies have found that – 79.7% of people need to adapt their business every two to five years to survive in the market and continue the growth curve.
Yet a significant portion of people worldwide don’t love changes. It might be because of unknown fear, discomfort, emotional attachment, uncertainty, perceived complexity, etc. You will find such people everywhere, even in your workspace.
This category of people may be the biggest threat to the growth and development of your business. To deal with this situation, the change management theory has emerged. This article will cover a detailed discussion of this topic, including a step-by-step guide on the change management process.
What Is the Change Management Process?
Change management is the systematic process of guiding people and organizations through changes. It aims to ensure that the transition happens smoothly. The process involves a series of consecutive stages – identifying the need for changes, planning, communicating, and implementing.
The final goal is to ensure the changes have been well-received and aligned with organizational objectives. For example, we are currently experiencing an AI revolution. Numerous AI tools have already reached the market, and many more will appear soon, initiating the fifth industrial revolution.
Unless people and organizations of all levels can align themselves with this technology, they are sure to suffer in the long run.
Importance and Benefits of Change Management Process
Due to its considerable importance, the market size of global change management consultancy is increasing every year. Because it may not always be possible for the existing managers of a farm to handle change management effectively.
In such situations, they tend to take help from reputed change management consultancy firms. Take a look at the statistical graphic below, which shows how the market size of change management consulting has skyrocketed over the years.
So, why is change management so important? In this section, we'll illustrate this topic and cover some crucial points. Keep reading! We hope you enjoy it.
a. Facilitate Organizational Adaptation
47% of organizations that integrate change management are more likely to meet their objectives than the other 30% that did not incorporate it.
According to WalkMe Experts
The change management process involves planning, training, and supporting people throughout the transition process. It makes them feel more comfortable when the changes are implemented. If there are any blockers, change management helps overcome them during the process.
b. Align Change with Business Goals
Changes are successful only when they are aligned with the border goals and objectives of the respective organization. The change management process guarantees all the changes made, whether in terms of HR, technology, or strategy, are aligned with the organization's mission and vision.
Explore how to set business goals and achieve them with project manager software.
c. Ease Continuous Improvement
The change management process tracks the regular progress, collects feedback, and implements necessary adjustments, removing any possible obstacles. This contributes a lot to efficiency and productivity and makes way for the company's growth and progress.
d. Enhance Employee Engagement
As mentioned earlier, some common reasons for most people's reluctance to change are unknown fear, discomfort, emotional attachment, and perceived complexity. By removing these fears, the change management process enables employees to become more engaged. Check how to ensure employee satisfaction.
e. Minimize Risks of Errors
Change management is not just implementation. It also includes identifying and overcoming all the obstacles and mistakes that are likely to happen along the way. As a result, the possibility of different types of risk, such as miscommunication and misalignment, naturally comes down.
Major 5 Types of Change Management Process
There are several dozens of change management types worldwide. But in this section, we'll list and discuss some common types that are usually seen in workplaces.
Type 01: Transitional Change Management
It involves shifting from one state/system to another within the organization. It's better to explain this with an example. Suppose a company wants to use a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to track sales, support, and customer interaction.
However, most employees may not be used to the new system/software. In this situation, according to the transitional change management system, the managerial board will conduct training sessions for employees to familiarize themselves with the system.
Besides, at the initial stage, they will continue to provide instant support to the workers for a certain period. Thus, they will smoothly shift the entire workspace from an old system to a new one.
Type 02: Cultural Change Management
Since 2020, we have seen some massive cultural changes in workplaces. The first is the worldwide remote job culture that started when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Most of us had to create a comfortable house environment to continue our jobs sincerely.
Numerous job tracker applications were released to monitor employees' work. Many workers got scared and took time to get used to these trackers. However, continuous remote working created mental anxiety and loneliness among many workers. Then came the hybrid work culture. Here are the best hybrid model practices with WP ERP.
But those who became very used to the remote work culture showed an aversion to physical offices. Now, a new cultural revolution is underway – diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Those who are religiously conservative and morally different don't love to accept this culture in the workplace.
Type 03: Transformational Change Management
Transformational change management refers to comprehensive changes. It includes revamping the respective organization's mission, vision, business model, employee roles, working process, and more. As this covers numerous things, cultural shifts, and adjustments take a long time to carry out.
Transformational change management requires strong leadership and farsighted personnel to lead the organization from the front. In this case, giant organizations usually hire consultancy firms for necessary assistance and guidance.
Type 04: Structural Change Management
Structural change management shuffles the organization’s framework, including its hierarchy, roles, and team structure. HR managers often implement these changes when there is a need for resource optimization, redefining job roles, improving efficiency, and enhancing communications.
You'll find many agencies online that work on multiple projects for many clients. Whenever a new project comes up, they recruit new people on a contract basis and add existing employees with roles. When the project is over, the recruited employees are released, and the structural setup is changed again.
Type 05: Technological Change Management
Hope we don't need to talk much about this type. Since the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution, almost every business organization worldwide has started adopting technologies to conduct their activities. But over time, if a particular software or technology becomes unable to meet the surrounding market demand, it's better to switch to another platform.
So, whenever you think of switching to another technological system, you must ensure employees have enough time to adapt. Otherwise, it may backfire. Thus, technological changes are managed in the workplace. See the latest technological trends to drive your business goal.
Step-by-Step Change Management Process: A Complete Guide
Hope you are enjoying this article. In this section, we'll provide you with a step-by-step guide to the change management process so you have a real-world vibe. Keep reading the steps.
Step 01: Identify the Needs for Changes
The necessity for changes should obviously derive from certain needs. Sometimes, you have to explore whether this need really exists, and often, it automatically comes up to you. Whatever the case is, you must validate the value before addressing any changes to meet the needs.
Do the following things to identify the need for changes –
- Conduct a Situational Analysis: Evaluate your current operations and performance metrics to identify if there is any gap between your expectations and the outcomes.
- Gather Feedback: Discuss with key stakeholders (employees, investors, managers, and users) to collect insights on which areas they should add value to.
Step 02: Assess the Change Impact
There is a famous proverb – for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Similarly, the changes you will implement will surely have some responses in the workplace and among the people. You must validate whether these reactions and responses are going to be positive or negative.
According to numerous research and statistics, around 66% of change initiatives usually fail, whereas only 34% see success. And the biggest reason behind this is not being able to properly understand what kind of effects it will create after the change implementation.
You'll be surprised to hear that 2/3 of workers experience burnout crises throughout the change management process, which causes transformational failure. So, it's needless to further describe the importance of analyzing the change impacts.
Do the following things to assess change impacts –
- Map Out the Sensitive Areas: Identify the people, teams, and departments that are going to be the first to be affected after the changes are implemented.
- Risk Assessment: Make an audit to single out all the possible challenges, like productivity dips, skill gaps, and financial costs, so you can mitigate them before implementing any changes.
Step 03. Plan for Changes
If you think of implementing a series of changes, it may not be possible to carry out all of them at once. So, it's better to plan and list those ones earlier based on priority and dependency, which should be executed first. This planning is a must, as it will help others in your team know what is coming next.
Do the following things to plan for changes –
- Use a Gantt Chart: A Gantt Chart is a project management tool that helps you list all your simultaneous tasks in a series based on their priorities, dependencies, and importance.
- Ste Milestone: Once the Gantt Chart is ready, set separate milestones for each task so the entire change management project can be carried out within the due time.
- Allocate Resources: If the change management process requires any special resources, you should also plan for them in advance.
Step 04. Develop Change Strategies
According to Profiletree, a successful change management process can yield a 500% return on investment. In this case, change management strategies can play a crucial role. If you have some employees who are reluctant to change, your artful strategies can convince them.
Do the following things to develop change strategies –
- Develop Approaches for Different Groups: If the workplace has multiple teams/groups, you should have different approaches to deal with them as they might have separate psychologies.
- Plan for Resistance Management: Resistance can arise from powerful parties at any stage of the change implementation process. You must have strategies in advance to deal them.
- Adopt Open-Source Change Management: This strategy is based on the principles of openness, transparency, and collaboration. It can increase the success potential by 22%.
Step 05: Use a Project Management Software
Using project management software can help you monitor the overall progress from a centralized dashboard. Using this software, you can break down tasks into small-manageable formats, assign them to respective team members, set deadlines for each sub-task/milestone, and track progress.
WP Project Manager is such a plugin you can use in this case. It's an easy-to-use but comprehensive project management plugin for WordPress users. It covers all the necessary features needed in any project management activities that you can harness for your change management endeavor.
Below is a list of things you can do with the WP Project Manager plugin for your change management –
- Set up as many projects as needed for your workflow
- Break down large tasks into smaller ones and assign them to team members
- Use the Kanban Board for better workflow management
- Create Gantt Charts to visualize the project management timelines
- Generate reports to analyze project progress and productivity
- Upload and share files with the team members
- Integrate tools like GitHub, Bitbucket, and Slack for enhanced collaboration
WP Project Manager has a free and premium version. Get the plugins by clicking the button attached below.
Step 05. Implement the Changes
Once you complete the above steps, you are ready to implement the changes. This means we are in the action phase at this stage. This step involves careful coordination and hands-on management to ensure the devised plans are being executed through real-time monitoring.
Do the following things to implement the changes –
- Roll Out a Pilot Change: Do some pilot change management tests to judge reactions from different groups in the workplace.
- Roll Out All Phases One by One: If the test result is positive, start rolling out all the phases one by one as you planned earlier.
- Collect Feedback and Do Active Monitoring: Real-time monitoring is mandatory in this action phase so you can instantly rectify the wrongdoings.
Step 06. Communicate the Change
Hope you have noticed that whenever your web hosting provider or banking corporation undergoes massive system changes, they send you updates by email and SMS. Similarly, when you implement changes in your workplace, you must timely inform all the relevant parties it may affect.
According to research conducted in the UK, 29% of surveyed employees assert that their respective company didn't communicate with them well during the change management issues, which is why they feel offended.
Do the following things at this stage –
- Communicate through multiple channels (emails, slack, newsletters, and mobile SMS).
- Ensure the messages are clear, consistent, and aligned with the organizational objectives.
- If possible, allow two-way communication to collect feedback from others.
Step 07. Train and Support Employees
A key reason why many employees show apathy to change is the feeling that they will be incompatible in the workplace after the change is implemented and they will be replaced by newly recruited people. To overcome their fear, you can create a training session/workshop where they will have the opportunities comprehend the new skillsets required for the changed environment.
Do the following things to train and support employees –
- Offer Hands-on Training Sessions: Workshops, hackathons, and day-long training programs can help employees practice and grow new skills.
- Evaluate Training Effectiveness: Like new changes, new training often becomes difficult for many employees to catch. So you need to actively evaluate if they are learning properly.
Here's a guide on how to support your employees' mental health.
Step 08. Reinforce and Sustain the Change
Once the changes are implemented, it's important to align them with the organizational culture so their impacts last for long. This reinforcement involves recognizing the employees who have successfully adapted to the changes and incorporated them into their performances and practices.
Do the following things at this stage –
- Incorporate the Changes into Daily Operations: Cross-check and update the organizational policies, cultural practices, and employee roles.
- Reward Employees: By rewarding those employees who have successfully adapted to changes, you can boost their moral values.
Step 09: Review and Adjust as Necessary
As said before, new changes might often backfire. So, staying blind after implementing new changes will definitely be a serious mistake. If a change backfires and you turn a blind eye, it can destroy your entire workspace and your business. This is why you must conduct reviews to find any potential loopholes so you can take the necessary steps.
Do the following things at this step –
- Conduct post-change reviews to gather insights
- Keep documentation of the lessons you have learned throughout the process
Why Change Management May Fail: The Challenges
There are some common reasons why most change management initiatives fail. As a change management specialist or manager of your respective organization, you must have an idea about those points. This will help you become a visionary leader/manager at the same time. Take a look at the points below why change management fails.
1. Low Employee Engagement
According to the CEB Corporate Leadership Council, 62% of organizations use the change implementation plan primarily owned by leaders. Honestly, there is no problem here. But often, the top heads confine the decision-making power only to themselves, and most of the employees have no access to it. But this is a wrong move if employees have a big stake in the organization.
Gartner revealed in a report that change success is increased by 24% when employees own the implementation planning. Hence, you must incorporate employees and all the other important resources and stakeholders in the planning so everything is utilized correctly and the deadline is met.
2. Insufficient Planning
Without a comprehensive plan that outlines the mission, vision, objectives, timelines, resources, and how to overcome the potential obstacles, no organization is ever able to face all the challenges that may arise during the change management process. Lack of foresight can lead you to misallocation of resources and failure to meet the deadline in the end.
3. Poor Communication
When the change implementation begins, not only are employees' roles changed, but many customer-related services are disrupted. Unless you can communicate this to the respective parties in a timely manner, your entire workplace and market will become a mess. This is why clear and timely communication is so important in the change management process.
Check how to improve your communication in the workplace.
4. Inadequate Training
Inadequate training is a common barrier to why most employees fail to adapt to new systems, roles, and processes. This lack of preparation can lead to frustration, decreased productivity, burnout, and increased resistance to the changes.
5. Unseen Resistance to Changes
This issue is common in environments with intense corporate politics and suspicious people. They may pretend to accept all the new changes, but inside, they resist. They will secretly do all the possible things to halt the changes from happening. As a manager, you must be careful enough to pick out these suspicious people for the better future of your organization.
Closing-Up
Change management is always a complex task. A single mistake in this process can undoubtedly cause you massive havoc. However, you cannot deny or resist changes. Because doing so will leave you far behind the existing competitors in the market.
So, it's better if you always have a plan ready at your hand, organizational culture, and your mindset to face any new change requirements whenever they knock at your door. Hope you have gained enough knowledge on today's topic from this article, which will benefit you in many ways.
If you feel we have missed something in this article, please let us know in the comment section so we can update the post. That's all from today. Thanks for being with us till the end.