Upcoming Courses at MSQPC
FranklinCovey 4 Disciplines of Execution
May 19
Time Mastery
June 15
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
July 25-29; Aug 22-26
Walt's Corner
Each month, Walt Hanna, MSQPC's Director of
Training, will offer his insight into quality and leadership
development issues. This month, Walt looks at Change
Management.
Change
Management
There is a familiar saying in business that states: “Your
business may be on the right track but if you don’t keep
moving, you will get run over!” More aptly stated, if your
business does not keep up with changes in the marketplace,
you will lose your competitive edge.
Change
management leads the people side of change and is defined as
the systematic approach and application of knowledge, tools
and resources to deal with change. The approach must define
and adopt corporate strategies and resources to deal with
changes in the business environment. Essential tools for
application will be leadership, focus, processes, and reward
systems. In my own experiences I have been involved with
some change initiatives that were successful and several
were not in terms of employee satisfaction and resistance to
the changes.
Why is it
critical to properly understand how to effectively lead
change in an organization? For the simple reason that Forbes
Magazine reports that almost 50% of major change initiatives
in large organizations are unsuccessful in accomplishing
their stated objectives. Why are so many change initiatives
unsuccessful? Some of the more common reasons stem from
employee resistance, communication breakdowns, not
identifying and engaging key stakeholders, insufficient time
devoted to training, staff turnovers during the transition
period, costs exceeding budgets, and insufficient time lines
for change implementation.
How can
those challenges be overcome? (1) Clearly identify and
engage key stakeholders and in the process with a well
defined strategy. (2) The change must be well planned and
timed. (3) Clearly communicate plans and goals as to what is
and is not changing and why. Employee perception is the key.
We can deal more effectively with what we know as opposed to
dealing with fear of the unknown. (4) Train the leaders who
will lead the change. (5) Involve employees at every level
of the change process. (6) Implement reward systems that
support the change. (7) Provide effective training to
promote immediate proficiency and reinforcement of the new
processes. (8) Create and implement systems to measure and
record the effectiveness of the changes for future use.
Measuring and communicating successes can also help to
promote adoption of the change.
Remember,
your organization may be on the “right track” but change is
inevitable. Without effectively preparing for it through
knowledge of sound change management principles and
practices, your efforts to change with the marketplace may
not be met with success and you may get “run over’ by the
competition. If you are in the initial planning stage of a
change initiative, and want to know more, please join us on
February 24 for the Change: Leading Others to Higher
Productivity workshop. Call, e-mail, or go online to
register.
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