Change Management
Mastering Change Management: Key Tips & Common Pitfalls
To paraphrase a famous saying: change management is the only constant. In order to remain competitive, companies must be successful with change. However, research shows that 75 to 80 percent of all change initiatives fail.
The human resources (HR) department plays an important role in the success of these projects. This article will walk you through various models and techniques that can help you effectively manage organizational change from an HR perspective.
What is change management?
Change management is a systematic approach to leading teams through changes or transition phases. This is done to achieve specific goals, with a focus on helping individuals adapt to new ways of working.
What is a change management process?
Change management processes are designed to support change. This includes identifying ways you can support change with employees, within teams, or as part of the overall departmental structure.
A change management framework typically includes three key elements:
- People: Helping employees and stakeholders adapt to change.
- Processes: So that change occurs smoothly at the organizational level.
- Technology: Automating change to make it sustainable.
Is change the same as transformation?
Change aims for specific, measurable outcomes, while workforce transformation is broader, more uncertain and more exploratory. Transformation is about finding future business models or redesigning an entire organization.
Popular models for structuring change management
Below are some of the most common change management processes and models that can serve as inspiration for your organization…
ADKAR model by Jeff Hiatt
Hiatt’s ADKAR model aims to engage employees throughout the change process, which is divided into five phases.
- Awareness: Making employees aware of the need for change.
- Desire: Awaken the willingness to participate in and support the change.
- Knowledge: Equip employees with the necessary knowledge.
- Empowerment: Employees practice the new skills required for the change.
- Reinforcement: Show initial successes to strengthen employee commitment.
Practical tools for change management
HR’s primary responsibilities include facilitating change, training, and knowledge management. Here are some important tools HR should use:
- Cultural Analysis: To identify barriers to change.
- Conflict management: To mediate escalating tensions.
- Team building: To strengthen team cohesion in turbulent times.
- Executive Coaching: Helping employees adapt to new roles.
- Change reporting: To document progress against key performance indicators (KPIs).
An example of change management in practice
Using the ADKAR model, an example of how to set up an effective change management process in your company regarding annual leave is given here…
Phase 1: Awareness raising
Start preparing for change. We may already know that employees are reluctant to fill out vacation requests because their managers haven’t asked them to do so in the past. They also don’t see how doing this well in advance is helpful to the company and feel it’s their right to take vacation whenever they want.
Phase 2: Desire and Knowledge
Let’s create a desire to support the change. Your CEO could simply send an email to all employees explaining that booking vacation in advance is helpful for more than just the company. It also helps plan important company meetings and ensures that the right number of employees are always available to serve customers. It is also important for employees’ mental health and well-being that they take full leave.
They could share their knowledge about the importance of encouraging employees to take their annual leave. Point out that the average worker in the UK only takes 62% of their annual leave. This is bad because it costs the country around £77.5 billion a year in lost productivity due to mental and physical illness, often caused by stress.
Phase 3: Empowerment and Reinforcement
We may find that despite our CEO’s email, employees still don’t book vacation in advance. This could be because they are unable to do so. By changing the tools employees use to record vacation, e.g. through a one-time registration that can be approved via an app, resistance to booking a vacation could be reduced.
Reinforce this behavior by mandating it. For example, you could tell employees that they will lose certain benefits if they don’t book their vacation in advance.
Key factors for successful change management
- Clearly defined goals:
When sales figures are declining, it is essential for sales management to define clear goals. It is important to determine exactly what will be achieved, how success will be measured, and when the changes will be implemented. Using the SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Attractive and Time-limited) can help make these goals effective.
- Involvement of employees:
Listening to and involving employees is critical to the success of any change, particularly in situations where facilities are merging or facing closure. Their insights could demonstrate the value of maintaining certain established structures, and their buy-in is critical to the success of any change.
- Systematic approach:
When responsibilities are redistributed, as is the case with sales teams, tensions can arise. Instead of relying on intuition alone, HR should take a structured and methodical approach to resolve these issues professionally.
Possible pitfalls in change management
- Lack of prioritization:
Change cannot be effective if too many goals are pursued at the same time. A new CEO who drives innovation, customer loyalty, agility and expansion all at once can overwhelm and demotivate employees, which ultimately hurts the company. It is important to set priorities and approach change gradually.
- Overlooking company culture:
Change is not just a logistical process. While certain organizational changes can be implemented quickly, changing company culture is a slow undertaking that often takes months or years. It is important to recognize and plan for this, with strategies such as discussions, coaching and team workshops being invaluable.
- Too few resources
A successful change requires not only a budget, but also time, qualified employees and specialist knowledge. After significant changes, such as During a restructuring, for example, employees may need extensive training that distracts them from their usual tasks. Managers must realistically assess and allocate resources to prevent the change process from derailing and employee morale from suffering.
How to determine if change management is working?
To effectively track change management, you need to consider a number of metrics that can have an impact. Things like:
- Employee engagement and satisfaction metrics
- Employee turnover and retention metrics
- Survey data and qualitative feedback
The indispensable role of HR in change management
Even if change projects seemingly have nothing to do with HR, such as: the introduction of a new IT platform, employees have to adapt to it. HR is the linchpin for the functioning of any change management initiative.
As digital transformation accelerates, HR’s role as change manager will become increasingly important.