Change management is no easy feat—which is true for both large and small organizations. But the fact of the matter is that change is inevitable, and companies must determine how to create a road forward for the betterment of both the employees and the business.
Oftentimes, larger organizations will face some sort of urgent reason for a change such as new ownership, acquisitions, technology disruptions, new executives, or other competitive threats, as just a few examples.
On the flip side, smaller organizations will often get to a point where workers struggle to find a new way to unlock growth opportunities. Certainly, finding the right skilled talent is difficult in today’s tough labor markets.
The book Change is Good . . . You Go First by Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein highlights the fact that change takes a good amount of persistence, energy, and drive to come out on the other end of the process.
Today, let’s consider two different change management models.
Change Management Model #1
The first model to consider comes from McKinsey & Company, and this model is good for those organizations that aren’t quite sure how to address the challenge.
Step 1: exam your strategy. Here make sure to determine what makes sense for where you want to go and how you plan to get there.
Step 2: consider your structure. Take a notebook and write it out to decide if you have the right blueprint in place.
Step 3: assess your systems. Do they have what it takes to ensure they can support your goals and aspirations? Or do they need to be adjusted?
Step 4: make any tweaks in your company style. This can include a number of factors such as how you approach your customers, and what kind of image you want to project.
Step 5: consider your staff. Does your current team have what it takes to get the job done? If not, crank up the hiring efforts.
Step 6: be intention about the skills your company needs. You may want to train your current team—or you may not.
Step 7: draft a statement about your shared values, which includes the things that you believe are fundamental to your new game plan.
Change Management Model #2
The second change management model to consider is from Harvard professor Dr. John Kotter. His approach focuses on the “people” aspects of change, which is vital to making change work.
The first step is to create a sense of urgency. Your team needs to know you mean business.
Second, put together a group of people that can be champions of change in your company.
Third, form your strategic vision. Here make sure you consider the what, where, and why.
Fourth, reveal that vision to your team.
Fifth, consider how to remove barriers and eliminate roadblocks. If you want action to happen, this step will be key.
Sixth, look for opportunities to get some short-term wins to show folks that the vision and strategy can in fact work.
Seventh, determine how to sustain or even accelerate change. Momentum is key to reaching and achieving goals.
Finally, mark your changes in stone so that they stick.
While these are just a few ideas, the bottomline is to make sure your team is on board in order to move change forward. While change is certainly hard, it is not impossible. We just need to consider some key steps to success.
