Reflecting on 2024, Looking Ahead at 2025
Change Management
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It’s that time of year again! We begin to review our accomplishments over the past 10 months, and plan for the new year. We’re either looking back with pride and excitement as we anticipate the new year, or we’re scratching our heads wondering what happened. Either way, as we continue moving through the fourth quarter, business leaders are planning changes for the new year based on last year’s accomplishments and next year’s needs. Change management is in the air!
As a result, you may be preparing for one of these significant changes:
- Organizational restructure
- New technology implementation
- Culture shift
- Market expansion
- Hiring and integrating new leadership team members
- Regulatory changes
- Shifts in meeting customer expectations
Or you may be planning one or more smaller changes:
- Adding a new payment option
- Implementing a new intake form
- Adding a new page to an existing website
- Upgrading software or equipment
- Hiring a new employee
Business leaders who are planning change now will be a step ahead of their competitors. To meet our business goals and remain relevant, we have to remain agile and respond to changes in our industries, the world, our clients, and our employees. Anyone who does not want to change will be left behind.
And as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated, “The only constant in life is change.”
We all desire to lead our company’s to success now and in the future. To do so, we must regularly be changing and improving. If you do the exact same thing that you did this year, will your organization experience growth? By making small or large changes, what could you accomplish next year?
If you do the exact same thing that you did this year, will your organization experience growth?
Why Change Management Helps
So you know you need to make a change – now you just need to pick a date and get moving, right?
Not exactly. This is where we see leaders mismanage organizational change: they know the vision of the future and what needs to change to get there, but they underestimate what it will take to get everyone on board.
Because they’ve already justified the change and made the decision in their mind, they do a disservice to their employees by neglecting to think through the impact of the changes, big or small, to all levels of employees, clients, and other stakeholders.
Not only that, but it’s easy to forget to make a plan for explaining the reasons behind the change, or how to appeal to the hearts and minds of their employees to inspire them to participate in the change. Then leaders are surprised when they’re met with some of the aftereffects of poorly managed change: lost ROI, lower productivity, employee resistance, lack of engagement, and morale decline.
Turning the Corner Knows Change Management
Turning the Corner has guided organizations to embrace and manage change in a thoughtful and productive manner. One organization we engaged with last year needed to bring in two new executives within a short amount of time. The CEO believed that as a leader they were ready for the change and that the employees in both affected departments were also ready for the change.
Our Method
Two of our experts, including one of our certified change management leaders, did a deep dive to understand more about the new positions and affected departments. The organization’s CEO and Turning the Corner were able to have discussions with employees in both affected departments to get their perspectives. The CEO was able to clearly articulate to the departments the current state of the organization: not receiving the revenues necessary to sustain themselves.
Then they presented their vision and the attributes that fresh talent could bring which would stimulate future growth. An organizational chart was developed to share with each team member not only where their current strengths would be utilized, but also how they could experience growth in the future. This gave the employees the desire to welcome a new leader onto their team.
Based upon this analysis, the organization decided to scale back the level of role to be hired. This honest reflection of the impact that hiring two new C-level executives would have had, allowed the organization to decide if they wanted to push forward with C-level executives, or hire slightly lower level leaders.
Once the new leaders were identified and hired, Turning the Corner was able to provide new leader assimilation services for each of the new leaders, their new peers, and team members. The new leader assimilation process provides an opportunity for open communication and feedback between both the new leader and their teams. This is vital to lay the foundation for future success.
As the new leaders progressed within the organization, they served as models of effective change management by celebrating successes with their teams while they introduced and integrated new ways of approaching their team’s deliverables.
What can you do to facilitate change well? A few key factors in managing change effectively include:
- Assess your own readiness for change
- Clarify the current and future state of the business
- Identify who will be affected
- Identify why people should want to change – what’s in it for them?
- Identify others to help develop the change vision and strategy
- Put together a communication and feedback plan
- Celebrate and reward wins
Of course, there are steps involved in each of the key change management factors noted in the list above, which need to be handled carefully. It all starts by identifying the changes that need to be made next year, and partnering with a change management expert. Our change management experts will walk alongside you and you work through these key factors, and their accompanying steps. This will help you move your business forward with much less resistance, and a greater opportunity for success.
Need help?
Contact the change management pros at Turning the Corner to walk alongside you as you navigate your year-end planning and next year’s change implementation. Turning the Corner HR is here to help. We offer customized HR support. Reach out today at [email protected].