People Management
Taming change
How to transform your company in the new marketplace
By Paul R. Harvey
Smart Business Tampa Bay | March 2009
Tom Stewart
Vice president of WorkForce Solutions
Tampa Bay WorkForce Alliance
Managers who launch a change initiative based on the tidy, sequential and
well-defined path described in textbooks often see the initiative fizzle and fail. In
practice, change in today’s intricate marketplace is usually squeezed from many sides by
transparent and uncontrollable forces.
Unwary change leaders can be blindsided
by the unpredictable nature of change. Three
issues commonly cited as unexpected roadblocks by change managers are inadequate
support for a change, failure to define expectations and goals early in the process, and
failure to involve everyone who ultimately
will be affected by the change.
“Effective change management entails an
understanding of the effects of the change on
the business and the effects upon people and
how to mitigate potential sources of resistance to that change,” said Tom Stewart, vice
president of WorkForce Solutions, Tampa
Bay WorkForce Alliance.
Smart Business asked Stewart why customers expect change, how to lessen employee stress throughout change and why
change management is critical to creating a
positive long-term change atmosphere.
Why is successful change management a
strategic imperative for organizations?
In today’s marketplace, change is an
ongoing necessity. According to a 2007 survey by the Society for Human Resource
Management, 82 percent of companies had
planned or implemented major organizational change in the prior 24 months. As evidenced by the survey, you must constantly
change and evolve in order to grow and not
remain stagnant. In order for your company
to be successful, clients need to feel they are
receiving not only good service but the latest
and greatest service at all times. To meet
these demands, businesses must be in constant evolution. Effectively managing the
dynamic business environment necessitates
both vision and fortitude to quickly respond
to change.
What components of change cause anxiety,
and what missteps feed this anxiety?
Change management entails understanding
the transitioning of individuals through the
phases of the change while strengthening the
organizational development initiative. In
order to effectively strengthen your organization through change, it must be properly
managed to avoid any barriers. On an individual basis, fear of the unknown is really
what causes the greatest anxiety. While the
real concern may be, ‘How will this change
affect me?’ or, ‘Will I lose my job because of
this change?’ often it manifests itself as an
intense resistance to upcoming changes.
Thoughtful planning and communication is
an imperative to relieve that tension and foster successful organizational change.
Missteps can and will occur if the essentials
of change management are not closely
addressed. Failure to allow for thorough
development, constant communication and
collaboration across all lines of business will
only feed in to the anxiety some may feel during a major organizational change.
What are the first steps to introduce the
change initiative and gain employee buy-in?
The ADKAR model, developed by Prosci,
for individual change management is an
exceptional tool. The model describes the
required building blocks for change to be
realized successfully on an individual level.
The building blocks include Awareness
of why the change is needed, Desire to support and participate in the change,
Knowledge of how to change, Ability to
implement the change on a day-to-day basis,
and Reinforcement to sustain the change.
When deploying a major change in your
organization, a critical first step in change
management is organizational awareness of
the reasons for change. At this step in the
process, communication at all levels is paramount to achieving true change. Awareness
allows your employees to buy in to the
change initiative, which is a necessary building block to achieve desire from employees
to change. Resistance is a natural reaction to
change, so achieving awareness to develop a
desire to actively support and participate in
the change itself is critical. During these initial stages, constant communication is needed to achieve employee buy-in for the change
initiative to be a success.
How can forums facilitate change?
Dictating change from the top down is the
easy way to go about change. Employees
from all levels should be brought in to feel
like they are part of the change. Employing
focus groups allows you to tailor change
ideas to what would work best with their
practices and how to best implement the
changes. Facilitating the communication of
the change by making the employees feel like
they are part of the change process is the only
way to get true employee buy-in.
How can leaders make their company more
change-friendly for future initiatives?
Creating a positive change atmosphere,
where individuals see change as not only for
the improvement of the organization but also
for the betterment of themselves as employees, will make future change initiatives relatively easy. Showing employees that change
shouldn’t create fear or anxiety enables your
company to not just adapt to future change,
but also thrive from change.
TOM STEWART is vice president of WorkForce Solutions, Tampa Bay WorkForce Alliance. Reach him at (813) 930-7559 or
stewartt@workforcetampa.com.
