Organizational change is essential for companies that want to evolve and remain competitive, but organizational change can also be incredibly disruptive without the right strategies in place to guide the transformation. 70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.[i] On the other hand, the right change management strategies can bring incredible success to your workplace.
Change management is the process, tools and techniques used to manage the people side of change, in order to achieve business success. It is the systematic management of engaging employees in adopting organizational change. Ultimately, change management focuses on how to help employees embrace, adopt and utilize changes within the workplace in their day-to-day work experience.[ii]
Keynote speaker Michael Levin is an extremely successful entrepreneur and dynamic public speaker. Through his keynote speeches, in just one hour, he offers the strategies and tips your company needs to create meaningful, sustainable change. He offers guidelines for preparing for change, managing change, and reinforcing change. Levin’s change management strategies can be applied to any workplace, from education to technology, accounting to venture capital firms.
The marketplace requirements to compete are evolving so quickly that leadership must prioritize change to stay ahead of the curve. Unsuccessful efforts to be proactive and sustain organizational readiness will come at an extremely high cost.[iii] Change management is an embedded leadership requirement that plays into how we go about getting things done at work, regardless of hierarchy or rank. Every leader must be a change agent.
It does little good to create a new organization structure, design new work processes, or implement new technologies if your employees are left behind. Employee participation is integral to the sustainability of any workplace change. Therefore, most effective change management strategies are those that focus on the human behavior element.
It’s important to be very clear in defining the desired change. This is true for everything from a minor procedural change to a transformational change affecting the entire organization. One of the most common barriers to accelerating a change is the lack of a common understanding of what the change actually is.[iv] Therefore, after noting and communicating the need for change, it may be a good idea to gather the key stakeholders necessary to proactively implement what needs to be done. By involving your employees from the start, you can develop their sense of ownership and commitment to the change.
“For positive sustainable change to occur, I believe those impacted need to have a voice.” Levin says, “Without a voice, buy in becomes dramatically more difficult. Plus, those closest to the situation and most impacted by the change are going to have important ideas and input that need to be considered. As well, it becomes incredibly powerful when they take ownership to help create that change.”
Change should not be considered purely from an organizational perspective. For example, it’s common to think about financial structuring, data and system integration, and physical location changes when thinking about mergers and acquisitions. However, all organizational change occurs one person at a time. Data from a recent study shows that 96% of participants with excellent change management met or exceeded objectives, while only 16% of those with poor change management met or exceeded objectives.[v] Michael Levin can offer strategies to empower every employee to be an effective change leader. His solutions will be tailored to the needs of your organization, and more specifically, your employees. For it is the cumulative impact of successful individual change that results in an organizational change being successful.
[i] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/changing-change-management
[ii] https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/the-what-why-and-how-of-change-management
[iii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/03/24/every-leader-must-be-a-change-agent-or-face-extinction/#5db5414d4e0f
[iv] https://www.imaworldwide.com/blog/define-the-change-the-first-step-in-your-change-management-strategy
[v] https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/the-what-why-and-how-of-change-management
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