Change management training

Change has been the basis of civilization since the beginning of human kind. The revolution, the
change started then and carried on across ages and it will extend further more in to the future.
Therefore, for any type of activity the saying “business as usual” refers actually to every day
decisions that are modifying the direction of that activity. Change is very common in everyday
life of one individual (the micro universe of one individual suffers many changes) but the major
impact on life itself starts with the change in business. Change can involve the entire business or
just few systems, it can reflect just a new initiative that is going to be implemented, or it can base
itself on the idea of technology improvement.

Whether the change that is planned involves the entire aspects of your business or just a sector of
production, you are fully aware that change has to happen and has to be implemented. Any
business manger torments himself with very distressing questions about the way to produce this
change and especially how to control the outcome of this change.

The theories about how to “enforce/implement” change are widely spread in the business
community and were brought close to the rank of science by a very famous leadership and
change specialist John Kotter. Being a professor at Harvard Business School, he has published in
1995 a book under the title “Leading Change” on how to produce change. An eight steps process
on how to produce and implement change in an organization.

Below a short description of his theory:

The first step is described by the creation of the need to change (Create Urgency), which has to
be urged by the whole company. Best results are going to be achieved if all personnel welcomes
the proposed change. The statistics that managers show to personnel regarding sells decrease and
the numbers for the success of the competition on the market are no longer sufficient to induce
the necessity of change.

To create this Urgency, you should first identify the threats to the business and based on those
you should start building scenarios for the future including the outcome of every individual. The
discussion you will lead towards examining the opportunities and the solutions on how to exploit
them.

The discussions must be honest, dynamic and should be described with convincing reasons (you
will get people to talk and to think about the problem and embrace the change faster); best
convincing reasons come from consumers, give reasons supported by experts in the industry, and
get the support of stakeholders to back your proposed change.

In the second step, a strong leader should find allies. The support of key people in the
organization will build up “the Urgency”. You need to amplify your voice with the support of key
people in the organization they are influencing the rest of the personnel to embrace change. There
are leaders among your personnel win them over and maximize the chance for the change to
happen.
The third step has to be visual. All great idea floating around should be summarized and a vision
of change has to be created. People react better if they see the reasons for which you are asking
them to do something differently than they do now (to actually change). The vision of change has
to capture the central values of the change and see that everyone knows it (your allies must be
able to describe the vision in five minutes or less) Practice makes perfect ,so speak of the vision
often.

You have prepared for the fourth step than, propagate the vision, communicate it. Hope you
have made proper plans to communicate your vision because it has to stand out from the many
conversations (verbal and written within the company) Use all the means available to you to
engrave the vision in the mind of any person in the company and lead the way to the new
reformed future of the company. You will have to address people’s concerns and try to ease their
anxieties as these are the common obstacles in resisting to change.

This leads you to the fifth step towards managing the change you have so often promoted,
removing obstacles that are setting in interfering with the trend of changing already set. There are
some important rules in this crucial step forward in implementing change: You have to
implement the structure for the change to happen and you have to check constantly for any
obstacles. From this moment onwards there is no going back so you have to have the strength to
deliver the change (if you cannot do it alone identify or even hire change leaders to move forward
in delivering the change). A must do in these times of change is recognize and even reward any
person that is delivering the change (the person that makes change happen, they will be your
second best allies). Find the persons that are not ready for the change and help them to see the
things your way (from this moment on, it is not your way anymore, it is the way of the company
they are employed in), use your second best allies to get to the resisting to change employees.

You are almost there, but do not jump any step, do it the right way and take step six introducing
small steps victories. Help employees to see a better future and help them get the taste of a small
victory. The best way to go is to create targets that have a short span to be accomplished (take
one-step at the time to ensure that the long-term goal is achieved). When selecting targets, you
should be extremely cautious, it can backfire (take a less costly option and a small step in change)
if all goes well point is proven. Do not forget to reward the persons that succeeded in the new
conditions.

It is not final yet, the seven step underlines that one victory is not guaranteed success. Change
has given you the first rewards but you still have to build on the change you have imposed. Here
is the weak point in all change managements because managers are eager to declare victory but
change is a long and deep process. Do not stop here, build on your success, on every win you
need to analyze and improve. You need to set yet another goal to be achieved. You might
consider that success is close if you get 10 small wins in a row and follow the kaizen and the
principle of continuous improvement.

Form this point on you are on the verge to victory. You just need to make the change to stick to
all personnel as a final step. It has to become the foundation of your company’s culture. Vision
has to be followed and the change has to be reflected in the daily activities of every individual in
the company.

Newcomers in the organization need to embrace the vision and to help consolidate what has
become the soul of the company. Success stories are the most useful way to keep vivid in the
mind of the staff the long process of change that the company had to undertake.

Remember always to have key leaders to ensure that the hard work and legacy is not lost as one
of your key allies is moving on.

Change is not an easy process. Rushed, the results will surely be failure! Plan, build, implement,
and improve, the key factors in change management. Follow the steps and you are guaranteed in
the correct direction to finally your corporation to embrace change much easier next time.