How to Make Business Change Ready
Is your business ready for a change? Here, we look at how to examine your business to see if you could adapt to changes and improve flexibility regarding the planned and emergent change.
Change management has always been something of a dark horse for those leaders who are looking to find the key to success within their organization. Putting the needs of people first is a concept that executives and leaders have learned to adapt. However, there is still some confusion about what leaders actually believe change management entails and how they should set things out to achieve the success they need. All too often, leaders believe that changes do need to happen and that they should prepare their employees for the future, but they are not sure how they should start.
How people work is changing continually. We have seen significant advancements in technology, a large generational spread within the workforce, and a young, vibrant workforce looking to embrace change. To keep up, organizations need to adapt so that they can compete in an often-saturated marketplace. These are not things that can be ignored, but with so much pressure to change in many organizations, it can be rather easy to create a situation where change happens.
This brings its own risks as it can result in an organization making decisions that are not in line with its overall vision. Organizations should avoid being reactive and instead be proactive. If they want to do this, they need to change how they do things and prepare for the future.
Vision
It is important to consider the organization’s future in question and ensure that any visions are clearly communicated; this is important to creating an environment where success will thrive.
Vision is not simply a plan for product innovation or growth. It is the total picture of how you might see an organization in several years, not just one aspect of the business but everything it does. How will the organization’s employees be working? What do customers think? How is the company being led? These are just some of the important questions that will help to form a purpose-driven vision. Once an organization has a vision, they can effectively communicate it to their employees, and this will help make them feel like they are part of something and can help them see how things might be in the future.
Employees who can understand the purpose behind an organization’s vision will understand just how they fit into the plans and what part they might play, as dealing with change is far more difficult when you do not feel involved. This, in turn, makes them less resistant to any changes that might take place and means that they are less worried. They feel like they have a part to play in the organization’s future successes, helping them support the changes.
Focus on the People
Communication and, more specifically, listening is one of the most important things that any organization can do when dealing with change. When you value your workforce and listen to them, you unlock a wealth of potential. After all, people are the greatest asset that any organization has.
All too often, change initiatives are unsuccessful due to several factors, and the majority of these are linked to a resistance to change. If you decide to implement new technologies and then attempt to communicate this, you may be too late.
What employees really want is to feel like their voice matters at some point in the decision process, and it doesn’t really matter what the decision is – it could be a new microwave for the break room or a complete software system. If this change is forced on them, the reaction will tend not to be a positive one. Any change management expert will tell you that if you are proactive and include employees in a decision, they will have a much more positive reaction. You are allowing them the opportunity to feel like they have contributed, and this is powerful.
Business Change: Leadership
It’s no surprise that many leaders are worried that something will go wrong. This needs to change, and organizations need to understand that failure is an option and can be learned.
Leaders might want their employees to be more agile and quick decision-makers, but if they never allow them to build up their skills, this will not happen. Of course, this approach might seem risky, but if you don’t take the chance, then you will never really know what your employees are actually capable of.
Be the leader who inspires their team and motivates them to be innovative to help the company be successful.
Agility in Organization
If you embed change management into every element of your organization, you should begin to see an increase in its capability to change, and it can happen fast.
The world is continually changing around us. The US’s current workforce is made up of around 35% Millennials, and they are certainly not afraid of change. If organizations want to survive, then they have to ensure that they are adaptable to changes.
Change management has gone from being something that it is nice to have to be something that you must have. It needs to be at the heart of everything that an organization does so that it is always prepared for the new changes that are just around the corner. If change management is at the heart of everything an organization does, employees will be less fearful of any changes made because it will be something that they have grown used to.
From the very newest to the more experienced ones who have been with the organization for a considerable time, every employee needs to understand the change-ready mentality and be ready to take up the challenges it can throw their way.
