Managing Change Effectively

Effective Strategies:

Low-risk strategies focus upon:

• keeping employees informed about the reason for changes, 

• why they are necessary and 

• involving employees in the change process.

Communication: Effective managers are able to scan the business environment to understand the factors that are impacting a business. The best managers are also able to communicate clearly their strategic vision in response to these influences in order to ‘sell’ the change  to employees, to make a compelling case for change.

Information systems: The ability of a firm to collect, organise, process and retrieve information quickly can lead to business success. Without access to information on what’s actually happening inside a firm, management is blind to what actually needs to change. To measure the impact of change decisions, the development of information systems is critical.

Realistic goals: Firms cannot change overnight. It takes time and effort to move an organisation into a new mode of operation, especially large public companies with thousands of employees. Realistic goals should be made, focusing upon the scale of change (how much can change) and the rate of change (how quickly?)

Strategies to Reduce Resistance to Change:

There are a few key strategies to reduce resistance to change. These include:

• Building trust among employees

• Offering support throughout the change process

• Specifying the exact nature of the change

• Discuss the upcoming changes and allow opinions to be expressed

• Clearly articulate the purpose of the change; despite negatives

• Acknowledge challenges and empathise with difficulties

• Do no rush the changes

• Use information systems and facts to support argument for change

• Support changes with new learning (training)

• Allow employees to participate in change

• Set reasonable goals / targets

• Provide continual feedback on change progress