In 1999, Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter said successful companies “develop a culture that just keeps moving all the time.”
Labor mobility, market transparency, instantaneous communication, and global capital flaws have blown away the previous comfort of stability. In almost all industries, greater global competition has forced management to embrace something that, in the past, they happily avoided: change.
With the continually evolving times, it is more important than ever to change regularly. However, change is difficult because few people know how to implement sustainable change. To implement lasting change, it is essential to have a reliable change management process in place.
Change management occurs when an organization takes on initiatives or projects to boost performance, grasp opportunities, or tackle critical issues. Any organization that seeks to attain growth and has the upper hand against its competitors needs to invest heavily in change management. Numerous factors influence change in an organization; they include; change in consumer habits, technological evolution, crisis, process reviews, mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring.
Throughout this article, we will discuss managing change and how to implement change management for happiness.
Why Organizations Do Not Change
We are in an era fueled by innovation and new trends. We have seen once huge companies like Blockbuster and Polaroid go out of business because of their inability to adjust to new trends.
In The Innovators Dilemma legendary Harvard Business Clayton Christensen says, well-run companies have good managers who lean towards ideas and markets which keep the company moving upwards in terms of higher profit margins and greater product quality. They shift resources towards sustaining technologies and away from uncertain ones. However, with new trends, these old ideas and markets are no longer sustainable and lead to decreased revenue. These ideas are further explained in his talk.
Even when managers identify new trends – the latest technologies and ways of operation – they still stick to old methods. In these situation, it’s important to have transformational leaders. Even with great leaders, change is hard because it gets people out of their comfort zone and brings fear of uncertainty. Without a structured change management process in place, the fear of change will win out, and organizations will stick to old comfortable methods.
TLDR: Even when new trends show change is beneficial, organizations do not change because of a lack of a good change management process.
What Does Change Look Like
Now that we understand the general importance of change, how can we model change?
The change curve is a model similar to the grieving process, which was developed by Elisabeth Kubler- Ross in 1960. Since its introduction, people have utilized it to understand how they perceive a change in their lives. While in the workplace, it is a crucial look at your emotions, how you react to them, and how it affects your overall productivity. The curve features four stages or the steps to manage change in an organization, which shows what people face and feel as they adapt to changes around them.
Stage One (Status Quo)
In the initial phase, most people are in shock or denial. Regardless of how well planned the change is, people in your organization will need time to adjust to the reality of the change. During this period, communicate early and often while ensuring you do not overwhelm people.
For example, a person whose workplace technology has been recently upgraded may be in shock about the change. Clinging to the status quo, the person requires progressive assurance and information about how to implement the change in his life.
Stage Two (Disruption)
After feeling the initial shock, people begin to react to the change with concern, anger, resentment, or fear. During this stage, people in your organization may feel the need to express their negative feelings and concerns.
Stage two is a critical time because if it is poorly managed, the organization can lose control and become chaotic. To avoid that, the person or group managing the change process needs a good understanding of how to correctly manage change in an organization.
For example, the person with the changing technology may actively resist the change. He may feel fear the technology will cause him to lose his job or anger that the new technology is inconveniently disrupting his life.
Stage Three (Exploration)
As you can see in the graph, this stage is quite literally the turning point for people and the organization. People start to accept the change leading them to explore the possibilities of the change.
One of the most critical steps to manage change in an organization, it’s crucial that people are helped and supported to test and explore what the change means.
For example, the person with the new technology will accept the latest tech and begin exploring its features. With help from the organization, the person can more easily adapt to new ideas.
Stage Four (Rebuilding)
This stage is the most rewarding of the steps in the change management process because people start massively adopting the change. As someone implementing the change management process, you will begin to reap the benefits of the hard work. Your team and organization are committed to the change so much so that it becomes second nature.
For example, the person with the new technology becomes committed to using it. He notices a rise in his productivity with the latest tools at his disposal.
Why Is Change Management Difficult?
Leaders and managers in different organizations have had many debates on how to correctly manage change in an organization. The topic has attracted much attention globally because change management can be difficult. Usually, there is no easy way to go about it.
Change management is difficult because there is little agreement on the essential factors for transformation. Every manager believes different factors are critical for success because each manager looks at these factors from his or her perspective, based on personal experience.
Another reason is that change management requires patience and commitment from people implementing the change. The change curve shows that organizations and people usually get worse before you get better. Managers have to stay committed and lead by example during these down phases and have to remain patient because there is no immediate gratification. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.
Finally, the most critical reason why change management is difficult is that people are naturally resistant to change. Preferring the status quo, people do not like to get uncomfortable, and change usually is inconsistent with their self-image. There is a wide array of negative emotions people feel throughout the first two steps of the change management process. Moreover, throughout the first three stages, the organization and people in it see productivity decline.
How to Make the Change Management Process Easier
While painful in the short-term, change is highly beneficial long-term. It’s important to ease the burden of the change management process and make it as easy as possible.
To make change easier, managers should listen and observe to respond to unexpected reactions and outcomes from the change. Even with managers providing different factors for change, it’s impossible to preempt everything. Therefore, managers need to be aware of or have mechanisms built into the change management process to help respond to the unexpected.
Another method is to be committed to laying ethical foundations by making sure that people are well trained. This commitment ensures that people in the organization are given early opportunities to experience what the changes will bring. This commitment also requires patience. Learning and acceptance take time, and people are not going to be fully productive during this stage. Build in contingency time to allow people to learn and explore new ideas without excessive pressure.
Finally, the most critical factor is the people. To make change easier, communicate well to ease the negative emotions people may feel. Help train them through the process and, most importantly, celebrate each small success. The positive reinforcement facilitates the change management process for everyone involved. Also, by celebrating each achievement, things will be more natural the next time you want to implement change in your organization.
Change Management for Happiness
One of the most significant changes in organizations today is centered around workplace happiness. Each organization should be in the pursuit of promoting workplace happiness because of the productivity benefits it brings. Even when implementing change management for happiness, it’s crucial to have a good process in place to ensure sustained happiness.
One reason for implementing a good change management process is assuring the happiness of employees. People dislike change, so forcing them to change can backfire for an organization. However, if appropriately done, people can ultimately feel happier about the changes and embrace them more openly next time a change is needed. While trying to bring change, the managers should ensure that they can make their workers happy, for them to be more productive and do their work well.
Conclusion
Any organization looking to sustain success must embrace change. Change can be a challenge, which is why it is essential to understand the change curve and how to manage change in an organization correctly. With a proper change management process, you can make change more comfortable and ease the burden on your employees. Making the change process easier requires commitment and patience from the people implementing the change.
With a good change management process, it will be easy to sustain changes and implement new ones in the future. Moreover, people will be kept happy throughout the shift. As a result, they can quickly boost their productivity in the later stages of the change management process. As important as change is, it is just as if not more important for managers to ensure they create a pleasant environment for employees throughout the change management process.
