Eight Tips for Successful Change Management: The Key to Your Transition Is Communication
More and more organizations are taking a digital turn to conduct their daily management activities. This new way of operating brings about a fundamental change in organizational culture. That is why a proper strategy must be adopted to ease this transition.
With the right tools and approach, you will lessen possible resistance and increase your chances of success. You will find in this article eight tips for the effective management of change, including actions that will contribute to the process for your organization and your employees, and some that will help you to effectively manage your transition to digital technologies.
1. Be Prepared!
Before implementing a change, it is essential to develop an action plan and to be well prepared (read the news, set benchmarks, read various strategic plans, etc.). This preparation will allow you to ensure an effective digital transition, which will subsequently lead to optimized productivity and, in the same vein, bring improvements in profitability.
2. Ask Yourself the Right Questions
What positive impact does this change have on my organization and my employees? What goal do I want to achieve through this change? What is the concrete result, or what results, do I want to observe followingthis change? It is important to ask yourself these questions because they will allow you to better communicate your ideas. It is also through the direction you wish to bring with this change that you will be able to create a common vision.
3. Think About the Sources of Potential Resistance and Prepare Accordingly
All change runs into obstacles. Rarely does organizational change take place in a perfectly fluid manner without facing some resistance from the members of the organization. Anticipate this resistance and find solutions. The content of communication and the meaning you give to change will be the key to yoursuccess.
4. Focus on Positive Thinking and on the Benefits of Change
Focus on the desired results that this change will achieve: better communication, happy employees, increased competitiveness, improved resource management and increased productivity… Be positive and convincing!
5. Demonstrate Transparency and Present an Inclusive Vision!
The most important aspect for the effective management of change is to include and support your employees throughout the process by being as transparent as possible. Indeed, by spreading out the process of change over a long period of time and by regularly communicating with your employees, you will face less resistance from them. In addition, by having your employees involved in decisions, they will more likely embrace change, because they won’t feel that it has been imposed.
6. Know How Your Employees Feel and Understand Their Emotions
A survey may seem trivial, but it can be very indicative of the current environment. By having your employees sharing their opinions and emotions, they will feel that someone is listening to them. A survey makes for a proactive action by providing some reassurance regarding their lingering doubts and concerns.
7. Develop a Training Plan
To facilitate the process of adaptation to change and a strengthen employee motivation, a training plan is avaluable asset for ensuring a smooth transition process towards digital technologies. Your plan should include all the useful information that will help employees prepare for the upcoming change and continue to be functional during the transition.
8. Feedback: An Essential Part to Ensuring Successful Change Management!
Success is often downplayed, but mistakes are, of course, always possible and they also serve as a source one can learn from! To seek feedback on the process of implementing your digital systems is therefore a necessary (dreadful) measure in order to adjust your course of action and to prompt a reaction, when needed. It is therefore important to take into account the satisfaction of your employees during the transition, from start to finish, and to not exclude them from the process. Remember, your employees are the pillars of your organization!