No Change?

Changing Times

Many organisations begin a change process and find that their efforts are not having the desired impact are you banging your head against a brick wall in trying to figure out why your change initiatives are not producing results?

It’s not easy to have a precise plan to assist during management of change,  there are many unknown variables. However it is important to have a framework in which to plan for change.

When organisations look back on change initiatives there are often things that happened which in hindsight could have been foreseen even if the final outcomes were not predictable.

Creating a strategic framework for change is a responsibility of management. It gives everyone, including, those planning the change, members of the organisation and even customers and suppliers an understanding of the process and therefore an aid to reducing uncertainty.

Why do we need to change?

Of course if you hope to convince others of compelling reason for change then it essential that all managers understand and communicate or promote those reasons consistently, failure to communicate consistent messages will simply lead to confusion.

The questions below will enable you to check your managers or change agents understanding of the changes you are facing:

• Why change? What are the compelling reasons to change? (Growth, survival)
• What is the current situation? How does that prevent growth or, development?
• Future aims – Vision for the future. What exciting opportunity does the vision for the future present?
• How will the change affect us? – What’s in it for employees, profits, customers?
• How will we Implement change, key stages, who has responsibility for what? Who will drive the change?
• How will the change be communicated? What methods will be used to promote the change?

Personal change

• What are the implications for people? The good, the bad, and the ugly! How can we minimise the likely disruption and anxiety amongst our people?
• What will be the result of the change?
• How can we measure that we are on track with the change strategy?

Catalysts for Change

Catalysts are forces that if acknowledged and clearly defined force an organisation or an individual to challenge itself and face up to the need to adapt and change. When those catalysts are not clearly defined or  management messages are inconsistent people fail to respond because it’s probably safer to remain where they are and with what is familiar. Change evokes all kinds of fears and uncertainties. Consequently we change only if we have to.

It follows then that it is difficult to get an organisation to change unless the people inside it can see the reason for change.   Many organisations begin a change process and find that their efforts are not having the desired impact, this could be because the catalysts for change are not  conveying sufficient reason to change.

Managers often interpret this failure to embrace change as “Resistance” and to impact this perceived resistance they create a monster, This monster is a scenario embedded with threats, designed to generate insecurity, and anxiety  an extreme and exaggerated cocktail containing the dire consequences of failing to respond to change.  managers hope that the monster will  generate a sense of  urgency to drive change.

People tend not to resist things they understand and which they know will benefit them. What they do resist are things that are imposed upon them, things, which they don’t understand, and things which are beyond their control and influence.

As organizations adapt to changing market environments, managing change has become a core competency for many managers. Managers usually learn to focus on outcomes and tangible results very early on in their careers, and although outcomes are very important, a manager must also pay attention to underlying emotions and to use positive power and influence in order to sustain change and achieve continued long term success

Individual change is at the heart of everything that is achieved in organisations. Once individuals have the motivation to do something different, the world can begin to change.

When Failure is NOT an Option. Choose Successful Change Strategies See our Change Leadership Training Course Here: http://www.spectrain.co.uk/Business–Strategy-Development

Good, better, best, we never let it rest till your good is better and your better is best

Dead Man Walking

It has come to the attention of management that employees have been found dying on the job and are either refusing or neglecting to fall down. This practice must cease forthwith, and any dead employee found in an upright position will be removed from the payroll immediately!

If in future a departmental head notices that an employee has not moved for an hour he will immediately investigate the cause as for some employees it is difficult to distinguish between death and natural movement. A careful investigation should be made by holding a final pay cheque or P45 in front of the suspect corpse as this is considered to be a very reliable test.

Dead Man Walking or Just a Little Rusty?

Many employees have just lost a focus on their job, they are on the payroll, but mentally they are rusting slowly and as they decay they loose commitment and effectiveness, they lacklustre and just don’t have a heart for doing things any more.
One underlying cause of rust is an inability to cope with the pace of change in the organisation. As organisations reorganise, diversify, and grow, communication can become diluted, employees are faced with a number of diversions as the organisation adapts,  often with little explanation to help them understand why they need to change yet again and what opportunities the change presents. Robbed of their sense of purpose and with no feedback of the value of their contribution.

They get to the point where they think “why bother”? Employees who are confused about their place in the company are unlikely to contribute fully, and neither will workers who don’t recognise the importance of their jobs.

Imposed change doesn’t have to be opposed!

Our helplessness with imposed change causes conflict because we were never consulted and therefore had no chance to buy into it so we resist like hell because we didn’t choose it It’s management’s responsibility to anticipate the effect of changes on employee morale and create situations where they CAN contribute.

Can’t is a four letter word, but easier to manage than won’t
Giving people things they know they CAN handle builds confidence and encourages “Buy in”

People are independent variables and therefore we need to understand the cause and effect of their resistance to enable us to implement change more efficiently Each individual has a unique group of factors which represent their values or the things that are important to them

The better we understand HOW we are affected by change and HOW we react to it the better equipped we are to create an environment where change is a natural and exciting process

Change is inevitable sometimes it is mandatory. You may be proactive in your approach to change or perhaps you are reacting to an event that you feel has been imposed upon you.

The more complex the change, the greater the leadership challenge to coordinate a range of processes from strategy formulation, to defining what needs to change and who will be affected. Effective change only happens when all of these considerations are balanced and optimized.

Fast forward your change initiatives with Spectrain’s  CHANGE LEADERSHIP training Programme