Change agents need to keep themselves, their team and organisation agile, nimble and adaptable to changing at any point in the business or strategic planning cycle. Because readiness involves change agents assessing their situation, convincing people to change attitudes, beliefs and intentions, planning, implementing and evaluating against measures and benefits, different techniques can be applied to individual and collective readiness.
Within these techniques, assessing holistically, mobilising collective support, building and shaping preparations around business as usual, is best managed by assigning responsibilities and competencies throughout the team or enterprise. Maintaining energy and commitment, actively managing stakeholders, deciding whether to augment key roles and reassign responsibilities are some of the challenges change agents face as each stage unfolds. Keep in mind, also that existing and intended change efforts need to be aligned and risks, impacts and dependencies accounted for.
In parallel, persuasive written and oral communication, active participation and management of internal and external stakeholder expectations is called for. We encourage and facilitate individuals, groups, departments and stakeholders to collaborate independently and collectively. This aids longer-term development of individuals and teams, as well as giving and gaining confidence, commitment and reassurance that the goal is achievable.
Top tips for effecting change with minimal disruption to business as usual are as follows.
1. Tip One
Invest in assessment of readiness for change to determine your organisation’s capacity to make the changes.
2. Tip Two
Develop appropriate readiness strategies for dealing with resistance (for example, education and communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, and negotiation)
3. Tip Three
Align new and existing programmes of change and pursue lighter-weight methods for maintaining business as usual during the change process.
4. Tip Four
Pilot the change intervention, particularly if this is an enterprise-wide change programme.
5. Tip Five
The change approach should be guided by the observation that, while there are insufficient resources to replicate your entire workforce, it is still possible to exploit some under utilised or external resources to reduce the disruption change may cause.
6. Tip Six
For technology implementations, a downtime assessment will help to determine the best course for technical optimisation before go-live to reduce the risks of downtime, cost and inconvenience to your business and customers.
7. Tip Seven
Develop and execute staff performance support systems that assist you and your organisation in meeting new performance expectations that will result from the change, whilst helping to minimise any potential fall in productivity.
8. Tip Eight
Identify, assess and manage preventative treatments for continuity risks routinely, and develop an organisation- wide business continuity plan-to deal with the complexities and consequences of making change a way of life will reduce disruption to business as usual.
This article draws upon research and field experience of preparing organisations and managing change projects in diverse environments. As a change agent what you do to prepare yourself, your organisation and stakeholders for change is critical to the results and benefits you achieve. Leading people towards a more satisfying, productive, change experience, one that delivers sustainable readiness for change with minimal disruption to business is achieved by building the capacity and capability for change into your organisation on a continuous basis. Doing that meets the needs of your business and the demands of your customers and stakeholders alike.
By Mark Axler & Olu Ajayi, MAON Limited a leader in change readiness assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation.
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