Change is inevitable in any organisation, and it is critical to manage it, so it runs smoothly. So what is Change management, it is purely about managing change to ensure the change is as successful as possible.
Why do we need to manage change? Make sure your staff are happy with the change and why it needs to happen, your customers are satisfied with it and that it doesn’t affect the company negatively. You have to make sure that you plan for change.
How can you make sure that you manage it effectively?
What is Change Management?
So, what is change management in simple terms? Change Management is planning, implementing and managing major changes in a business, product, operations or internal and external processes.
A change management process is a structured approach to identifying, planning, implementing and managing change.
- Managing the impact of change on people
- Identifying barriers to change
- Managing the effects of change
- Evaluating the benefits of change
It is not a magic bullet that can solve all problems, but it can help you plan, manage and control change.
Support everyone involved in the process through the transitions and understand what is needed to persuade each person to embrace and adopt the change fully.
In other words, change management can vary in scope and purpose, and one organisation might define and implement it differently. I hope it is clear what is change management is all about.
Principles of Change Management
The principles of Change Management are the process of managing change within an organisation. Change management can be broken down into five steps;
- Defining and identifying the scope of the change
- Preparing and supporting employees for change
- Developing a plan to execute the change, ensuring implementation success.
- Implementing and establishing the necessary steps and processes for change
- Assessing, monitoring and evaluating the impact of change pre- and post-change
Why Change Management?
Why do we need Change Management? Managing change can be challenging, and if you don’t deal effectively, it can have huge implications for the business. It impacts the things that matter the most to your business—employees, customers and profit margins. It’s critical to success.
Effective communication is one of the key factors in implementing a successful change within a business because the biggest cause of failure is human reasons.
Change Management Process
What are the benefits of a change management process? A change management process will guide you through the change. Identify each stage the change will go through and then create a process to manage each stage.
Creating processes for each part of your change can help guide and ensure you achieve the desired effect. Also, identifying and resolving risks that could prevent the change from being implemented.
Creating a process, a change management checklist allows you to follow a step-by-step guide with comprehensive, detailed descriptions through each stage of the change so everyone understands how to implement it. The process also gives everyone involved in the change a clear sense of ownership for the outcome.
Benefits of Change Management
All changes, whether large or small, benefit from a well-thought-out change management process plan.
Change does not happen naturally to people or organizations. They often encounter problems when making changes to their processes and systems. You’ll likely face many barriers from employees and has great potential to waste time and money without a proper plan.
Clearly explaining why the change must happen to the people closest to the process and asking for their input can open them to the change.
Change management is the key to successfully implementing the changes you want to succeed.
Understanding what is change management
Understanding what is change management and exploring the importance of change is essential to any business strategy.
Change management is about making change work for everyone and ensuring its success. There are many different change management methodologies that offer advice and offering different solutions.
Change Management Methodologies
Many different change management methodologies offer different ways to implement change.
Lewins Change Model – Lewins core focus is sending a clear and compelling message about why change is needed and best for the business. Kurt Lewin invented this change model back in the 1950s.
Seven r’s – change management are seven simple questions you can use to help assess change-related risk and even help gauge how effective your change management process will be.
Kotters 8 Step Model – Avoid common mistakes using 8 step change system process.
ADKAR Model – Five-stage process of change. Created by Jeffrey Hiatt in 2003, who then published the book ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government, and Our Community.
Checkify Change Management Process
Checkify can help with the implementation of a change management plan. Documenting the processes involved in the change to allow everyone to follow each step.
Checkify allows you document the process, create and checklist with a detailed details to guide people through a process.
This has explained what is change management and how checkify can help you document processes and help you in your change.
Change management is a systematic approach to implementing change within a business, whether it’s a new system or a new and better way of doing things.
Change management guides how you prepare, equip, and support people in your organisation to adapt to change. Clearly explaining what will change, why it needs to change, and how it will be actioned. The ultimate goal is to drive success in your business and achieve critical outcomes.
Read More: Change Management: Action Plan for Implementation of New Business Processes
Design of experiments (DOE) is a systematic methodology that identifies the connection between elements affecting a process and the output of the process.
DOE is a branch of applied statistics that evaluates the factors controlling the value of a parameter through conducting, planning, analysing and interpreting controlled tests.
Read More: Design of Experiment: Evaluate the Effect of Making Changes to a Process
Many helpful change management models, methodologies and theories (Glossary) can be used in the change process. All have been effectively applied to businesses to help deal with the transition process and change.
Change models vary some focus on how businesses should approach all aspects of change, while others focus on employees’ responses to change.
Read More: Change Management: Action Plan for Implementation of New Business Processes
The ADKAR Model is a simple tool to help the change process. Breaking it into its most basic critical elements, where each step outlines a successful journey.
ADKAR is an acronym representing the five principles of implementing changes successfully. Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. The approach sets goals for change management that increase the success rate. It’s a practical system that takes your process a step at a time.
Read More: ADKAR Model: 5 Building Blocks for Successful Change