Change management or leading change is arguably the most complex challenge you are up against when you are newly put into a leadership role. Leading change can quickly go awry if the proper change management processes are not implemented before any changes happen. In this blog post, we will go over what change management is, why it is important, and ways you can effectively lead change.
What is Change Management?
Change management is the process of managing the people side of change. It can be utilized any time that you want to make a significant change in your organization.
Change management considers the human side of change.
While you may think it is a great idea to start using new software at your organization, if you don’t correctly implement change management, you won’t get colleagues to use it.
A change management process brings awareness to why a change is needed, plans and prepares for the change, works to manage stakeholders and build alliances of of people who will help bring in the change and then evaluates, manages and reviews the success of the change.
Change management works to help people feel good about the change and adopt to the change.
Resources:
- 3 Ways to Feel Less Overwhelmed at Work (free guide)
- How to Deal With a Difficult Co-Worker (blog post)
- Management vs. Leadership (blog post)
Why Change Management is Important
A lot of statistics show that when organizations attempt to make significant changes without implementing a change management process, the success rate of the project plummets, it takes longer to get to adoption, and costs increase.
Humans typically don’t like change.
The brain is designed to keep you alive so that change can feel scary.
The brain knows that what you have done so far has worked to keep you alive, so it does not want to try anything new.
This is why most people are naturally resistant to change. It can feel scary, unknown, and uncertain.
Change management also helps people adapt to the change and troubleshoot any problems they may be having with a new change to ensure the success of the outcome.
When change management is done well, people feel prepared for the change and supported through the transition period.
The Change Management Process
There are many different popular change management processes. The main steps of most of the change management process are
- Awareness of the current situation
- Plan and prepare for the change
- Get support for the change
- Implement the change
- Support the change
- Evaluate the results
By taking these steps, you lessen people’s resistance to the change.
You also help support people through the transition to ease their frustrations during the learning curve.
By failing to implement a change management process, people will feel surprised and resistant to a change.
Managing Your Mind Through Leading Change
You might not agree with all the changes your organization decides to make.
You might need to make changes in your organization that other people vehemently disagree with.
Learning how to manage your mind around these changes will help you become a more effective leader and will help you feel empowered around what you can control, which is you!
Resources:
- 3 Ways to Feel Less Overwhelmed at Work (free guide)
- Asking Better Questions (blog post)
- How to Manage Your Mind (blog post)
To help you manage your mind around leading changes ask yourself these questions:
- What do I think about this change?
- How does this change support the greater goals of the organization?
- What are the reasons someone would be opposed to this change?
- Why would someone support this change?
- How do I want to think, on purpose, about this change?
These questions can help you get clarity around why you feel opposed or supportive to changes in your organization and can also help you develop empathy towards what other people in the organization may be feeling about these changes as well.
Transitions
People go through multiple transitions throughout their career and transitions into new roles is cited as the most challenging time in someone’s career.
Opinions are typically formed very early on and once formed, it becomes hard to change. This is why transitions are such critical times in your career.
Transitions signal the start of something new, with equal potential to be amazing as disastrous.
Transitions are risky and you can be encountering multiple transitions at the same time like being promoted to a new role working for a new department at a new company in a new industry.
Being promoted to a new role, moving to a different function, starting at a new company and moving to a new industry are all examples of transitions.
In the book, The First 90 Days, the author goes over how to handle transitions in your career to help you be successful instead of falling into one of the all too common transition traps.
Since you making a transition in your career will be some form of change, this books dives into how to use a change management process to make the transition smooth and successful.
A Final Note
Leading change is one of the hardest things for someone who is new to leadership. Learning about change management process and preparing ahead of time can help new leaders feel more confident and lead change successfully at their organizations.