Look around any corporate house, manufacturer, service provider and one theme that resonates across is change management. So why do organizations need to change? They need to change because they need to deliver value to stakeholders, to customers, to society. Mostly organizational questions are like – \u00a0should the organisation expand into new regions, get closer to customers, innovate with new products and services, get faster and be more responsive? Many leaders answer this question with – \u201call of the above\u201d\u2014but that\u2019s being foolhardy, not audacious. The problem is that change management is seen as a one-time activity or a task. A dramatic departure from the way we were doing business to the way we want to do business. This is the single biggest mistake leadership teams make repeatedly. Change management is about adaptability and agility. And that\u2019s why I keep saying that change management is as much about staying the course as it is about pivoting. How do organizations become perpetual change machines without losing their core value system?<\/p>\r\n
The trigger for any organizational change is always an existential threat, a new competitor, loss of market relevance, no competitive advantage, no business growth, no value creation. Whilst addressing these issues organizations focus mostly on improving efficiency and cost cutting. Sounds like a plan, right? Wrong. For me these are hygiene steps and should have been there in the first place.\u00a0 I have seen enough attempts to streamline businesses through productivity improvements and restructuring. Focus only on cost cutting is the quickest way to another failure because it undermines growth. It depletes capabilities, saps morale and leaves the workforce confused. The challenge is to make change management a part and parcel of the business plan, and not a \u2018project\u2019.<\/p>\r\n
The important thing to understand is that different organizations are at different life stages and maturity levels. There is no one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to change management<\/strong>. That\u2019s where the wisdom of the management team comes into play. Organizational change for many leadership teams was once a seasonal experience, often involving one of the Big 4 consultants to “get it done” as a project. However, in today\u2019s business environment, change management<\/strong> has evolved into the new norm of management. While theoretically, everyone “gets it,” we often don\u2019t see it effectively implemented in practice.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n The problem starts at the very beginning. It\u2019s not about how to change, it\u2019s about what to change and, importantly, when to change. I am a believer in momentum change. Once there is alignment, organizations need to move fast. Employees at all levels need to \u2018see\u2019 that people driving the change are walking the talk; otherwise, it is highly possible that cynicism will set in. Having said that, let’s also acknowledge the fact that change management<\/strong> is tough.<\/p>\r\n Part of the problem is that there is little agreement on what factors drive change management<\/strong>. Ask six leadership team members to name one key factor for success, and in all likelihood, you will get six different answers! Alignment in change management<\/strong> does not come with words. Alignment comes with actions\u2014demonstrable action. A leader should never assume that because a decision was made, the necessary action and changes will take place. This is almost never the case. People who have been in business for as long as I have will certainly attest to this fact.<\/p>\r\n This leads me to the heart of the problem\u2014or as I would like to see it, the solution: the people driving the change. The ability of the leadership team to reconcile perspectives or priorities and develop a shared understanding of the goals is critical. Any effort without articulating and addressing this key issue will always be sub-optimal. Leadership alignment and development are intertwined with change management<\/strong>. One cannot happen without the other. I have watched with considerable interest as many organizations desire to change. Here are a few lessons that I would follow:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As someone once said, \u2018Change never occurs as some sort of happening; it is part of everyday life.\u2019 Change is continuous and is as much about staying the course. Organizations must develop leaders who understand the core value system and can live this philosophy. Sustained transformation and value creation depend on creating perpetual change management<\/strong> mechanisms that drive organizational growth.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Look around any corporate house, manufacturer, service provider and one theme that resonates across is change management. So why do organizations need to change? They need to change because they need to deliver value to stakeholders, to customers, to society. Mostly organizational questions are like – \u00a0should the organisation expand into new regions, get closer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-change-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cxmlab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Problem: Understanding What and When Adopt to Change Management<\/h2>\r\n
The Solution: Leadership Alignment and Change Management<\/h2>\r\n
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