Change fatigue is real, especially as organisations and their people continue to navigate uncertainty. However, has change management’s role shifted from a ‘nice to have’ to a need to have for organisations that continue to adapt to a VUCA world?
The scale and speed of change shifted dramatically through the COVID pandemic, leaving many people feeling fatigued if not exhausted by its somewhat relentless pace, both at an organisational level and a personal level. While the GFC saw business respond during the downturn, COVID has presented additional challenges with widescale disruption, inflation, and more external pressures at a much faster rate.
Change management as a discipline is more relevant and strategically vital as leaders navigate the uncertain nature of how organisations need to evolve and the speed at which they must change to sustain performance. This is especially true as they face vastly altered and increasingly disrupted ways of doing business.
In short, change management has become a critical success enabler in enterprise transformation as the framework for managing the people side of change — it is not to eliminate resistance to change but to anticipate it, plan for it, manage it on a continuous basis, and anticipate the consequences.
Leaders must drive organisational resilience to not only adapt to uncertainty but to lead their teams through what is certain to be challenging conditions ahead. So, has the time come for change management to assert its role in enabling organisations to do so successfully?
Effective change requires c-suite buy-in
Transformation has never been easy. Decades of research have shown underperformance in the success rate for projects, with one recent study indicating that fewer than 30 per cent succeed.
In terms of transformation, that might be creating new capability a business has never had before, there are more unknowns and inherently far greater risk!
But success has become even more difficult to achieve today, with existing challenges remaining as well as post-pandemic issues such as inflation and resource challenges.
As a result, it is key that organisations and leaders build organisational resilience to emerge stronger from their transformation journeys. Robust change management can have an important role to play here.
Successful change management needs genuine buy-in from the c-suite and begs the question: is the c-suite becoming more comfortable with change, as well as adapting to managing change … or can it?
The brave conversations around change
Change management in transformation programs has often been an afterthought or considered a “nice to have” rather than at the core of strategy in developing projects designed to boost resilience and agility.
So, for leaders unfamiliar, or reluctant, to embrace it as a core discipline, some experts suggest a self-audit involving a key question: are you the person who shuts down discussion when a new idea is proposed, putting the brakes on change? Whether a leader is actively in such a category, or not, a mindset shift can assist organisations to initiate and continue a meaningful change management journey.
Leaders need to be brave in managing change conversations during transformation, to ‘face in’ and look broadly for opportunities during the process. Nothing should be off the table if it helps achieve the outcome and helps to remove the roadblocks that can stifle or derail the projects designed to drive change into their organisation.
Once leaders develop a preparedness — and mindset — for change, they should move into action by leading the way and inspiring teams with the types of behaviours that encourage others to see not just the benefits of transformation, but the actions and decisions that support it. For instance, leaders should make sure staff understand it is safe to speak up about the risks and change impacts they are concerned about and be empowered to make delegated decisions.
Mindset shifts from leaders
Senior executives may set the organisational tone, but those in middle management as well as departmental and team leaders also play essential roles. Fresh eyes, to assist leadership in change management, can also benefit.
Bringing in highly capable and independent expertise, especially in the case of long-standing leadership teams, can add ‘outside the box’ thinking and a different perspective on how to best manage change during a transformation, giving the c-suite extra levers to pull.
Bringing the team along
Once leaders are onboard across the enterprise, they need actively to coach workforces through the stages of change, which may have impacts on morale and productivity. Widespread buy-in will reduce resistance to change and bolster overall outcomes.
To enhance the best chance of success, leaders need to give the workforce ample and appropriate information through their preferred modes of communication. In addition, appropriate and fast alterations need to be made in systems, processes, and structures to drive the enterprise to commit to the desired change in the face of challenges along the way.
Leaders should also identify key stakeholders inside the enterprise and secure their support in a bid to move forward quickly and convey confidence. Identifying and partnering with stakeholders is mission critical for organisations, with the c-suite key to enabling sufficient understanding at all enterprise levels, and ensuring that change occurs holistically.
Change is a journey, not a destination
Change management is a journey, not a destination. Once a plan is in place, stakeholders are informed, and the process is implemented, more must occur to achieve the desired outcome.
Importantly, leaders, as change architects, must have an expressed commitment to the cultural transformation brought about via the change journey, to embed change over the long term.
To find out more about how Quay Consulting can support change management in your organisation, please contact us.
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