The art of making changes to stay competitive

Many things cause organisational change. These include challenge of economic downturns and tougher trading conditions, changes in strategy, technological changes, competitive pressure, including mergers and acquisitions, customer pressure, particularly shifting markets, government legislation or regulatory changes.

All organisations are in flux: changing their focus, expanding or contracting their activities and rethinking their products and services.

Most organisations that are more than ten-years-old, look nothing like they did even five years ago. And it is likely that in the next year or two, organisations will not look as they do today.

In this context, managers have to introduce and manage change to ensure the organisational objectives of change are met, and ensure that they gain the commitment of people, during and after implementation. Often, at the same time, they also have to ensure that business continues as usual.

Resistance to change may be active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organised, aggressive or timid and on occasions totally justified.

Organisational change

Management takes into consideration, the process and tools that managers use to make changes at organisational level. Most organisations want change implemented with the least resistance and with the most buy-in as possible. For this, change must be applied with a structured approach so that transition from one type of behaviour to another will be smooth.

Change management

As the speed of change continues to increase, change management is a fundamental competency needed by managers, supervisors, human resource staff and organisation leaders. To tap your wisdom, my recent survey about change management afforded me the opportunity to consolidate hundreds of years of experience in change management. Change is possible; the need for change is increasing; change capability is necessary for organisations that will succeed in the future. Change management challenges organisations to succeed during times of great change.

Employees stay in their comfort zones because it is familiar and they know what to expect.

Many employee fear change and the manager has the responsibility to help employees move through the change process. Managers need to develop themselves as a role model for change and create an environment where all employees will get aboard and be willing to make the changes that are needed. It takes a smart and intuitive manager to manage change in any business organisation.

For a manager to effectively manage change in the business setting, they need to develop an understanding of how employees react to change.

Every employee will have a different view of change and what their reaction to change will be. It is important that the manager stays visible and is always willing to jump in and help employees manage change. To be an effective manager of change, employees must continue to feel valued and respected by their manager. If a manager helps employees through the process of learning to let go of the old way of doing things, they can help the employee to adjust to the new changes in their working environment.

Resistance to change

When a manager is facilitating change in the business world, they need to be aware and acknowledge that resistance to change is normal and common.

Smart managers will recognise that resistance to change can actually be viewed as a positive sign that employees are involved with changes in their working environment. If employees do not believe in their managers and lack trust in their decisions or there has been no explanations of the reasons for change and how it will benefit employees, then managers will have difficulty managing any changes that needs to be implemented.

Another effective tool for a manager to use to implement change in a business setting, is to involve employees in the decisions that are being made to change their working environment. This is a method to help employees feel valued and motivated to go along with the implementation of the change.

This becomes a win-win situation for the organisation, the manager and all the employees. Managers who involve their employees and let them become part of the change will have an easier road for acceptance from employees.

Communication

Communication is the manager's best friend. The way a manager prepares employees for change and can clarify expectations and expected outcomes. The manager is the individual who can clearly communicate the rationale for change, answer the employee's questions and stress the importance of change taking place.

Managers need to remain positive and upbeat and show employees that they are energised to make the changes happen.

There are always some risks when changes are initiated. The manager needs to be ready for potential negative effects of any change and have a plan to handle them.

If mistakes occur along the way, then this is the opportunity for the manager and employees to learn from mistakes and move forward. Organisations that have a talented and effective managers will be able to handle the changes that need to occur to keep them competitive in their industry.