Are you tired of watching your colleagues scatter like ants every time a change is announced at your workplace? Do you find yourself needing to book an appointment with your therapist when your company hints its going to improve its processes? Fear not, business professionals! Today, we're asking the question: Is it finally time to shake things up and revamp how we manage change in the workplace?
Change Management 101
Change Management is the practice that aims to create smooth transitions in people and organisations, and it's actually been around longer than you think. Before it became formalised through the extension of behavioural sciences to the workplace, change was always occurring. And as long as change has been occurring, resistance to change or acceptance of it have pretty much covered the spectrum of responses. If you've ever had to deliver bad news to someone and prefaced it with "now don't over-react", you have attempted to manage their resistance and guide them towards acceptance.
From Ye Olden Days where change meant switching from quills to typewriters to the modern era of digital transformation, Change Management has been the unsung hero - or villain, depending on how you see it - in countless organisational transitions.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Change Management
Let's face it - change isn't always easy to accept. And for that reason, Change Management isn't always easy to do.
Some Change Managers feel the phrase "herding cats" was coined just to describe our profession. To push the analogy slightly further, imagine those cats need to be herded through a maze of meetings and training sessions using nothing but your good intentions, the occasional coffee-bribe and a well-worded email.
The good news? It doesn't have to be this way! With a bit of creativity and a dash of innovation, we might just be able to turn Change Management from being perceived as a necessary evil into a seamless process that actually works.
Time for a Change, Change!
So, why should we revamp Change Management practices? Well, for starters, the world around us is just going to keep evolving and the rate of evolution is also getting faster. We're talking about rapid technological advancements but we're also talking about the market response to those advancements, and the way different demographics nuance our response to the changes. Read this post for more: Bridging the Generation Gap: Navigating Change Across Different Age Groups.
Our old ways of handling change might just be as outdated as your collection of vinyl records... Except now your vinyl records are back! There's nothing wrong with the old ways, and vinyl records are wonderful. But you know as well as I do that your voice-activated digital assistant can't play them for you.
It's time to shake things up. While holding on to the core of what change management always was and always will be, let's try new approaches, and see if we can position Change Management more strategically for greater acceptance, influence and impact. For more inspiration on this, have a look at Change Management at an Enterprise Level.
The Rise of Agile Change Management
If you've spent any time around the water cooler or in office corridors, you'll have heard the word "Agile." Agile Change Management is all about flexibility, adaptability, and the willingness to embrace change rather than fear it. By adopting an Agile approach, organisations can create a dynamic Change Management process that responds to challenges in real-time.
Imagine a boxer who's been trained to duck, dive, block and strike. They're physically fit and ready, primed for the challenge. And then we ask them to wait in their corner for the fight to begin. You're possibly imagining a fighter with their robe on, relaxing against the ropes, they might be sitting down to wait. Now imagine that same boxer. Instead of asking them to wait in the corner for the fight, we've asked them to be on their toes while we send in the challengers. You're picturing the same lean athlete as before, but now they have an agile mindset. They're looking for the opportunities and eager to engage.
Change Management has a powerful, strategic purpose but so often it gets primed up, ready to go and then stood down to wait.
The Future of Change Management: Time for a Revamp
As we're currently facing the future of organisational transformation, one thing is clear - Change Management is here to stay. But that doesn't mean it has to remain stagnant, waiting in the corner for opportunities to be involved and to be effective.
It's time to allow that change management function to step forward, embrace innovation, engage with organisational strategy, experiment with new techniques, and revolutionise how we handle change in the workplace.
Change is not to be feared, and neither are the Change Managers. With a willingness to try new things, organisations might place their change function right where they need it and start to reap rewards as the function delivers smooth, ongoing change that demonstrates the organisation's commitment to innovation.
The time for revamping Change Management is here. What's keeping you or your team sidelined? Let's talk.
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