Change Management
Most organizations fail in driving change.
~ Jack Welch
Change Management
In today’s dynamic and high-paced markets, businesses are pursuing projects that are larger in scale and complexity than those of years past. These projects involve all areas of the business and are highly dependent on employees to help make the goals a reality. Often, however, the final results delivered fail to meet expectation. The business wasn’t ready for the change, but why?
Unfortunately, sometimes the need for change management isn’t fully understood until a project has failed.
Aligning on project goals, communicating changes, and supporting the learning needs of employees takes precious time. Many businesses, subconsciously, have elected to forego these key change management steps only to realize later that they were critical for success.
WHAT IS CHANGE MANAGEMENT?
Whether it is a new project, an acquisition, merger or system upgrade, all change can affect people’s day to day activities. Change Management is the process of assisting employees to adapt to new processes and business strategies.
“If it ain’t broke….”
Increasing employee awareness, buy-in, and providing the essential training and rewards for adapting to new ways of doing things are key pieces to a lasting improvement in business. It is important to help you team understand why changes are required and what benefits they will bring to the organization. Without change management, efforts to affect the way business is done will often revert to the methods of the past. Even processes that have “always” worked need to evolve over time.
A series of studies have been performed in recent years:
McKinsey (2000)
40 large scale industrial change projects; ROI of large projects was a dismal 35% when poor (or non-existent) change management programs were in place. Conversely, ROI was 143% when an excellent change management program was used.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (2004)
200 companies; a clear link exists between change management, high performance and a high project management maturity level.
Prosci (2014)
Over eight years of industry data; Initiatives with excellent change management are six times more likely to meet objectives than those with poor change management.
Why Change Management?
A well-planned change management program will ensure expectations are aligned, scope is managed, gaps are closed, and ultimately secures the sustainability of the project. Providing clear direction, and an understanding of the benefits for all involved, will allow employees to feel good about changes that are occurring and reduce resistance to future changes. As informed contributors and participants, employees are more likely to provide valuable and timely input that will ensure the project’s success.
Invoke Consulting has worked with teams of various sizes to achieve their business goals through the use of change management tools and practices. We understand the importance of change management, data integrity, risk mitigation and sustainability. We want to ensure the success of your next change project.
We look forward to speaking with you to discuss your business objectives and how we can help make them a reality.
