Editors Note: I find change management a fascinating study. I have spent several years at a large organization and have seen first hand the hurdles which must be overcome for successful change. Even at times, when you think you’ve addressed all the issues concerning change, as listed below, there are still those who resist. And I tell you this… from my own experience, if you are unable to affect change in the hearts of those executing, the change WILL NOT STICK. People must buy into the concept, and adopt it completely, or else they will not see the value of the change, and revert back to old process. It’s a tricky thing managing change, and it is by no means automatic. Find champions within your organization within each department, and from there change can be affected at the grassroots level.
Managing the change project through its operational phase is a difficult job, even in what seems initially to be a simple project. Not only are change projects complex, they also are highly mobile beasts that slither and slide unless you manage them very carefully.
- Sponsorship of change: Whatever you do, manage your sponsors.
- Stakeholders in change: Managing the people effects.
- Organizing for change: Creating the change organization.
- Styles of change: the style used should match the scope.
- The 4D Change Project Framework: For managing organizational change projects.
And particularly remember to manage the people:
- The Kübler-Ross grief cycle: Manage the people through their emotional cycles.
- Shock stage: Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news.
- Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable.
- Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion.
- Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out.
- Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable.
- Testing stage: Seeking realistic solutions.
- Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward.
- The positive change cycle: Even good news has its ups and downs.
- Lewin’s freeze phases: Unfreeze, transition, refreeze.
- Unfreezing techniques: Ways to get them going.
- Transitioning techniques: Ways to keep them moving.
Related articles
