Question

2. What are three specific steps that you would take to effectively implement change in an organization?

Answer 1

It is a common observation in organizations where “change” is the word that majority of the employees do not want to hear. Change creates a sense of uneasiness in them. Organizational changes can be of varying types such as change in processes or way of doing day to day activities, change in organizational hierarchy, change in work location, change in shifts / dress codes / work timings, etc. People resist in accepting change because they do not want to leave their comfort zone and jump into the unknown. But, given the fast changing business environment and ever increasing competitive landscape, change is bound to happen and it is the only way of moving forward. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the management of the organization to effectively plan and implement changes in the workplace.

Some of the specific steps that the leadership of a company can take to effectively implement change in an organization are discussed below:

Need for change: When the change in the workplace is backed with valid reasoning and solid case, it becomes comparatively easier for the employees to accept change. There can be multiple sources of information that may create a need for change. Such as, the results of customer satisfaction survey or employee satisfaction survey, strategies adopted by the market leaders, strategic changes by the top management of the organization to achieve certain organizational goals, cost cutting measures, etc.

Communicating change: The last thing that the leaders would want in the organization is to have employees hearing the news of change from unreliable, unauthorized and non-credible sources. On the other hand, it creates a sense of positive energy in the workforce when they hear about change from authorized sources in the organization such as from the leadership of the company itself. The process of communicating change should be done in a systematic and structured manner.

Employee involvement: It is more likely for the employees to accept change when they are made a part of the change process. Also, since some of the employees are directly interacting with the customers, they are better informed on what the customer actually wants and what it does not wants. Therefore, making the employees a part of the decision-making process can give the management of the organization some real life experiences and customer insights that may come handy in effectively implementing change.