Change Management - Adapting is our Future

Today’s Topic in our IBC blog is Change, and its importance in the modern Business culture. We will talk about Change Management and Leadership, about the foundation of change, important questions, and ways to implement it into the Management and Leadership.

Organizations seldom change without some external reason or pressure to do so. Changes may be wide, affecting many of the organization’s functions, or narrow, having limited impact outside one department. They may be large, requiring major investment, or small, costing relatively little in finance and people.

In our modern global world, the importance of the ability to change is not a luxury, it’s a requirement for any business. People, organization, and businesses are confronted with local or global crisis or risks on a daily basis, but most of the situations they are facing also bring chances and opportunities. It is a responsibility of any good business operator to be capable of implementing new strategies into a running business.

But how can a manager implement those required changes into a business, what are the questions that must be addressed to make change not just a reaction to a risk but to turn it into a chance for the business, to turn it into profit or knowledge. These strategies cannot be made appropriately if considering the change in isolation.  The change exists in a particular organizational context, and there are many factors in that wider context that should shape the design choices for a change process.

Power:

How concentrated or diffuse is power in the organization?
How much local or individual empowerment do people experience?
What power lies with different stakeholder groups?
Time:

Is the change urgent – the result of a crisis?
Is it possible to take a long-term view?
Scope:

How widespread is the change?
What are its impacts?
Preservation:

What elements of the past should be preserved? Which must be destroyed?
(Consider physical icons, such as buildings, locations and technologies, and intangibles such as values, ways of working and relationship networks.)
Capability:

Do individuals have the range of skills required, both for the change process and for the demands they will face after the change?
How good is the organization at managing change?
Does it have access to suitably skilled people?
Capacity:

Does the organization have the cash, time and people it needs for change to succeed?
Readiness:

Is there a critical mass of people in the organization who see the need for change? How committed are they to change?
The impact and influence of each of the contextual factors on the various design choices can be considered and documented. Informed and intentional decisions about the design choices form a strong foundation for any planned change. However situations change, it is important to retain flexibility. Good planning is vital, excessive planning is dangerous because the course of change is seldom smooth. The unexpected will occur, and the plan must be adapted to accommodate both problems and opportunities that arise.

And the most important thing is not to forget. Without adaption there is no successful company. Not in this century, and not in ones up to come. So, do you want to be successful? Do you have what it takes to survive and thrive? Contact us in case you need some coaching.