Why change management fails

Why change management fails

 

Change is inevitable, in business and in life. However, your managers have a big say when it comes to how your organisation might be affected, positively or negatively, by change. A little leadership will go a long way toward ensuring that everyone arrives at the right endpoints on the timeline you’re looking for.

The question is simple: Are you doing enough for your organisation’s “change leaders,” to aid in their efforts at helping get everyone on the same page? Understanding how these processes can get off course or even fail due to a lack of leadership may be the key to avoiding those pitfalls.

Change management requires a solid approach from the ground up.Change management requires a solid approach from the ground up.

One of the biggest reasons that planned changes for your company may flop is that there’s little communication as to how and — more crucially — why these shifts are taking place, according to CQ Net. The fact is that there’s more to changing your organisational approach, offerings or philosophy than just laying the right groundwork for it. You also need buy-in from everyone on the team so that there’s no resistance — or, even worse, someone actively pushing back against what you’re trying to accomplish.

While some managers may prefer to issue edicts and simply expect them to be followed to the letter, it’s better to bring people along every step of the implementation process so they can see the value in making the change. That way, they’ll want to be part of it, rather than having hesitation about moving forward.

What if the plan is wrong?

Another big reason that looping in more people during the planning phase is a good idea is that it helps you get more perspectives on your overall vision, and others may be able to point out shortcomings that you or other managers didn’t catch. Workzone noted that analysing the strengths, weaknesses, obstacles and threats that may arise is a critical part of change management. While you can’t realistically foresee every potential issue you’ll face, getting as many eyes on the plan as possible from the front desk to the boardroom will help you identify more of them.

Everything in its right place

The other critical component that many managers overlook in these situations is that they have not aligned every department of the company to ensure the success of the plan. Panorama Consulting stated that this might take more investment in key aspects of your operations, and getting more people to weigh in on how the end goal will alter their operations is vital. For instance, you might not have the necessary understanding of how a small change might affect a department you don’t have full insight into, and as such, relevant stakeholders need to brought in, listened to and supported before changes go ahead.

When you are going through organisational change — or are expecting to do so in the future — it’s vital that you put people in charge of shepherding everyone through the process. With the Leading Change course from ICML, your managers and other team members will be able to build up the skills needed to get through these transitional periods with aplomb, ensuring that everyone under your roof will be ready for whatever comes next.


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