Improve Your Change Management Skills
Change management is a systematic method to transition individuals from a current mode of operation into a new one. Because change is so common in the business world today, effective change management skills are necessary for a business to succeed. Change management skills include leadership development, marketing and sales abilities, and communication abilities. Also beneficial to an effective change management is knowing the psychological stages people go through in the midst of change, as this will allow you to know if you have managed a successful transition, or if you need to address additional problems.
Steps
- Focus on your leadership ability, first and foremost. Solid leadership skills are much more important during a transition rather than strict business procedures. Being a good leader will get people to believe and trust in what you're doing, which in turn will allow you to begin your campaign for change. To be an effective leader in the change management process, you should:
- Set an example. As head of your business, others turn to you for direction in business needs, behavior, ethics, and standards. If others in your business are to change, you need to set an example.
- Remove perks. Perks suggest division and thought processes typical in a hierarchy. Removing your perks shows that you're willing to level the playing field.
- Walk around and talk to people. Today's business leaders manage their employees better through face-to-face interactions and learning more about their problems on an individual basis.
- Be genuine. To be a leader of change, it is critical to be honest in your interactions with other people. You don't have to open yourself up like a book, but being a leader also doesn't mean you need to hide your emotions. Just let people get to know you. Doing so allows you to build trust and rapport.
- Have passion. Being a strong leader requires passion behind your vision for change. Without passion, you will face frustration and lose the desire to continue forward. Leadership requires lots of energy, so make sure you are passionate about what you are doing.
- Target every group within your business regarding your campaign for change, explaining to each group why change is necessary. For example, the board of directors may be curious about the long-term effects of the change. Or, your employees may want to know how they will personally be affected by your proposed changes.
- Communicate with everyone who has been affected once the change occurs. Fill your employees in on what is happening. It may help to set up a formal way of communicating with everyone. By keeping everyone informed, you reduce the chances of low productivity and low morale.
- Realize that no matter how much effort you invest into making the transition seamless, you will experience at least some resistance. The reason for this is that some people adjust to change at different rates. To reduce your frustration, it is helpful to know the six phases people undergo when change occurs.
- Anticipation. This is the waiting phase where people don't know what to expect and wait for what the future has in store.
- Confrontation. At this stage, people begin to realize that change is imminent, or in some cases, already under way.
- Realization. People enter Phase 3 once change has occurred. This is where the realization sinks in that things will always be different.
- Depression. As well as realizing the change intellectually, people are now realizing the change emotionally and are mourning the past.
- Acceptance. Now, people are comprehending the change emotionally as well. It is not uncommon for people to maintain some reservations about the change, but at this phase little effort is made to fight the change. Benefits from the change are acknowledged but not always fully reassuring.
- Enlightenment. People are now fully accepting of the change and often wonder how they ever managed under the "old" way.
- Understand that there is no way of predicting how long it will take to fully implement a change. The reason for this is that people go through the above phases at different rates of speed. One person may require three months to reach Phase 6, while another a full year. Also, people do not undergo these phases in a linear order, but rather jump around. For example, an individual may go from 4 to 6 and back to 2.
Related Articles
- Be a Good Boss
- Deal with Change
- Deal with a Bad Boss
- Accept Criticism While at Work
- Be a Good Employee
- Lead a Conference Call with Non Native Speakers
- Improve Your Leadership Skills
Sources and Citations
- Small Business Administration-- Original source. Public domain (U.S. Government Work)
