4 Things Managers Can Do to Spark Change

Most societies today are in a constant state of change, and this surely applies to organizations, change is the simple surviving answer to the rapid-moving external environment, whether be in local or global business, technology, and economies. 

Societies and organization cannot afford to stand stagnant still. Effective companies are, as Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter says “a culture that just keeps moving all the time.” For Organizations to remain competitive, plans, procedures and systems, must continuously change and evolve.

We are continuously facing new challenges, there are always new or better ways of doing things that we’re used to and thus change is a must in means o a surviving tool

You nav­i­gate change whenever you intro­duc­ing something new to your organization, like a new process or launching a new platform or a new implementation or performance management, In organization the effect of unplanned change is huge, it could affect not only your business, but also your most important and preciouses assets, your people… when employees walk out the door, a vital knowledge of your business leaves with them, losing your employees is already costly, and getting to know that they leave simply to not being able to adjust to the new changes is below bar.

Change man­age­ment is essential for organizations to advance and even com­pete, nevertheless it’s certainly not easy, doing any change it should be planned before head and implemented with care, 

positive and productive change relies on clear principles and techniques, here are four essentials to start with.

• Knowing Change.
• Planning For Change.
• Implement Change.
• Communicate Change.

Knowing Change: You can’t effectively indorse change If you don’t understand it yourself and know why you need it and how to benefit from it, Before heading to change think of all its aspects, think of all the benefits, and also of  any drawbacks, think of the outcome of “not changing”, and the real reasons for you to choose change. It’s true that most changes starts when old ways of doing things becomes insufficient, irrespective, it’s sensible to ask yourself these questions before taking the decision of change.

• Why do you need the change?
• What is the nature of the change, and it’s the main objective?
• What’s the whole benefit of this change?
• Would this change have a positive impact on your team/ organization?
• Would this change affect the productivity?
• What is needed to successfully achieve the change? 
• Was employ­ee opinion taken into consideration regard­ing this change?
• Who will the change affect your team / organization??
• What encourages the change?
• How many will be impacted with this change?
• What could probably go wrong with this change?

Planning for Change: There’s no place for chance or luck in applying affective change, adapt and plan the change that would benefit your organization, regardless of the bright idea of the change.  Planning or change is essential, , Write down your plan and be as pre­cise as pos­si­ble . Outline all roles involved in addition to the support you need and assistance you will offer. take the time to revise your plans to ensure that change would be  applied successfully. Nonetheless, you’ll need to consider the following questions  among others: 

• What goals do you need to achieve?
• What’s the scale of the change on Individuals, teams and organization?
• Why would peo­ple resist this change?
• What is the time­line of the change?
• who will do what and by when (who would design/ who would implant)
• is your internal experts sufficient or do you need external expertise?

Implement Change: Don’t assume that all staff would be excited about the change being imple­ment­ed. Humans feel at ease and comfort in familiar things they are used to, It’s humans nat­ur­al to be hesitant in the face of change… be prepared for some resis­tance dur­ing the change process — try to understand these acts and let your team know that you do under­stand and take the time to put them at ease.

It is essential to provide well planned support to help employee adjusting to change, the support takes different ways, starting from emotional support moving on to technical skills  and practically adaptation to the change till reaching  proficiency of performances and behaviors, in implementing change it helps to have an open door policy so employees can reach the management for any clarification needed, also planning  additional training or coaching would be a great help to implant the needed for this change. However, you’ll need to consider the following questions  among others:

• what sections needs the most support required?
• When and how will the change be introduced and implanted?
• What are the obstacles and how to remove them?
• Who would be affected from this change, and what could be done to involve them?
• How can we influence employee’s knowledge and empower them? 
• What kinds of support will be most effective?
• What training and coaching courses needed for this change?
• Who’s the person to communicate the change message?

Communicate Change: Communication can be a major turning point in any change you want to implement, it must be clear and relevant, so that people understand what you want them to do and why they need to do it. 

Dur­ing every stage of the change process, communicate openly with your team about why and how the change is hap­pen­ing, well-define in a clear tone what you want from them, emphasize on their roles during the change, let them know how this change would impact them, and what is expected form them.

• How well do people understand what you’re saying about the change?
• What communication will be needed? 
• Who are the right people to communicate change messages?
• How would feedback and employee’s concerns be managed 
• What can be done to regulate information flow? 

Change is not just an idea, neither its communication nor training, It’s not a struggle against resistance. Successful change is an organized process that starts with understanding the change, planning for it, implementing a general convenient tools to motivate successful individual and organizational change.