Organizational changes used to occur once in a decade, and more recently, maybe once a year. In today’s digital workplace, changes are taking place on a monthly, weekly, daily, and even hourly basis.
So how do organizations undergoing constant change manage both the long-term strategical challenges alongside the daily tactical ones?
The answer is mindset.
A new definition for change management
Change Management for organizations that are constantly changing requires the ability to react and adapt to change with ease and without friction. It relies on engagement and buy-in from employees at all levels to invest the time and energy into executing whatever changes are taking place.
For this, having an agile mindset and a can-do approach to change will be crucial in ensuring that constant change is not an uphill battle.
What are the challenges?
According to Deloitte, 60-70% of organizational change projects fail.
The main reasons cited for these failures are employee cynicism and counterproductive management behaviors. Essentially, what this is telling us is that effective change management needs the entire company to be on-board and working together to institute effective and sustainable change.
Employees who are happy with the status quo will also be resistant to change. They may fear, as is the case with many AI initiatives, that the change will render their role redundant or reduce their responsibilities.
What employees need to understand is that many of these technological changes will enhance and improve their work, automating processes will free up precious time to focus on the more important tasks.
Change requires investment of time and money, both of which can be perceived in a negative light as it means taking resources away from the existing business objectives.
It is the responsibility of management, and specifically, those leading the change management process to communicate the benefits to employees. This will help engage employees and encourage buy-in from them.
With any change, there is the risk it might fail. However, if an organization resists or ignores changes that need to take place, there is a higher risk to their survival as a company.
So, how can management maximize change to benefit your organization?
Encourage agility
Having an agile mindset within an organization is crucial. By encouraging agility, change no longer becomes a challenge but means an organization can pivot and easily maneuver as changes occur.
To achieve this, a company needs to invest in developing the change management skills across the organization, not just for a select few. Alongside this, time management techniques should be employed so that change does not seem to be an overwhelming task. Likewise, the training involved with any change should be delivered contextually so as not to disrupt the day-to-day functions, enabling people to learn in the flow of work.
True agility means that these practices and mentality need to be part of a company’s DNA, permeating from the CEO right down to the intern. Everyone needs to be flexing that agile change muscle at all times.
Continual learning and development
Companies that are continually changing can’t expect their employees to be attending training sessions for every new update or development.
Training, learning, and development needs to be part of their day-to-day and not a constant disruption to your employee’s workflow.
To achieve this, companies can deploy a contextual learning solution that offers tailored and real-time walk-through and support. Using cutting-edge AI technology, contextual learning takes multiple factors into account. These can include the user’s level experience, their level of seniority, and even time spent at the company to deliver context-sensitive prompts. These actions will help to enhance their training experience, allowing them to learn in the flow of work.
Keeping a finger on the pulse
Companies that are constantly changing and adapting will require buy-in from their employees in order to avoid resistance. This means not merely relying on the knowledge of your change management team but engaging with employees who will be able to share how each change has been absorbed, both by individuals and teams.
Listening to feedback from representatives across the organization will help build a complete picture of how past changes have been managed. If you are planning a large strategic change, its essential to consider the practical implications to employees.
By involving individuals from a range of functions and levels of seniority, your change management team will be able to modify processes and design changes which employees will feel positively towards. Not only will they feel that they have given a valuable contribution, but it will also foster a sense of ownership and engagement, which are essential to encouraging buy-in.
Stay flexible
To deliver successful change management, companies need to follow multiple techniques. If a company is undergoing constant changes, then agility needs to be a living, breathing part of the company culture.
Whether that means implementing a Digital Adoption Solution, delivering contextual learning, or listening to employee feedback, all of these practices will contribute to a smooth transition for an organization.
If the definition of change management for organizations undergoing constant change is to react and adapt with ease and without friction, then the above three practices will be the essence of ensuring the shift in mindset that’s needed to succeed.
