“Nothing is permanent but change.”
– Heraclitus, Greek Philosopher
These days “change” is the one constant denominator for every successful company and valued employee.
we recognize that in order to stay competitive or even survive, organizations must embrace change at a rapid speed.
Organizations are constantly “changing:” their systems, services, products, structure, attitudes, and behaviors. Everyone’s doing it, everyone’s talking about it, but how are we managing it? Is there an effective Change Management Process in place to manage the change within the organization? What does it mean from the top of the organization to everyone throughout the organization? And just exactly how does one transition from the “old” to the “new” successfully?
As we look at managing change, we asked for input and here is some of what we heard:
“Change is not just a new: system, structure, or attitude; change is a culture that impacts all factors in the perpetuation of a country or business that everything is subject to change. Change Management encompasses instilling a culture in a company, that nothing is sacred. All goods, services, and processes must be continually criticized for their validity of continuing to do the same thing. Management must encourage, motivate, and challenge every employee to ask the question: “How can we do it better?” and then fully support the evaluation of and process to enact change, not for change sake but for expected value.”
Herb Montgomery, CFO
“Change management, to me, means providing the leadership to take the company to the next level to drive success. Developing plans and goals do not ensure success, but execution and follow through of the strategic and tactical plan at all levels of the organization drive success.”
Steve Valenzuela, CFO
“Change Management, to me, is a central ingredient for progress and success. You don’t make sustainable progress and achieve lasting success without effective change management. Sometimes we achieve success in spite of ourselves and thanks to other favorable circumstances, but to win over the long haul you have to be able to inspire and manage change effectively, among other things.”
Terry Hill, VP HR
“Change management is the facilitation of transition. It can be useful when changing the financial objectives within an organization or group, such as moving from a purely top line focuses to a combined top and bottom line approach for determining the level of business success.”
Susan Neal, CMO
“Because I work with multiple companies and each experience many changes, my organization is constantly adjusting to support them in their change management situations. This means that Silicon Valley is always is in the fast lane when it comes to change.”
Ken Paige, CEO
“Change Management provides a structured process and tools to ensure higher success and benefit realization in support of transformation and change initiatives.”
Staff HR
“Change management? That sounds like something managers need to worry about. We go through changes here all the time. We just finalized a company merger, restructured all the managers, and changed all of our systems. Change management to me is when none of it impacts my ability to meet sales goals and objectives.”
Staff Investment Management
The reality is that while organizations keep “changing,” the success factor comes from how well the organization manages that change. Communicating every step of the change process is essential for moving the “people” side of an organization to best link with its strategy and processes for a successful outcome.
Most organizations know “what” needs to be done but have problems with “how” to do what needs to be done. To better manage your organization’s change, try using the following GE (General Electric) Change Checklist:
- Determine who will lead the change (who is responsible?)
- Create a shared need (why do it?)
- Shape the vision (what will it look like when it is done?)
- Mobilize commitment (who else needs to be involved?)
- Build enabling systems (how will it be institutionalized?)
- Monitor and demonstrate progress (how will it be measured?)
- Make it last (how will it be initiated and sustained?)
Aldridge Kerr can help your organization successfully manage change every step of the way.