8 Reasons to Embrace Change Management

Continual evolution is the key ingredient for meaningful growth in the business world. At the same time, it can be genuinely difficult to make adjustments that stick, as recent research from Harvard Business Review bears out. With more than 70% of all transformation efforts failing these days, it is paramount that you take the right approach towards your company’s evolution. Fortunately, that’s where change management comes in, so here are 8 reasons why your company should embrace it:

• Informed Decision-Making
• Resource Efficiency
• Fostering Stability
• Improved Morale
• Clarity of Vision
• Future-Proofing
• Creating Leaders
• Increased ROI

1. Informed Decision-Making

Not all changes are equal. Without a structured methodology, it is just as easy to change for the worse as for the better; something that could spell disaster for your business. Creating a smart organizational change management plan helps you forecast potential stumbling blocks ahead of time and adjust accordingly. What’s more, it can enable you to identify what is currently working for your company so that you don’t end up trying to fix something that isn’t broken. 

2. Resource Efficiency

Making large-scale adjustments to how your business operates is difficult enough in itself, so the last thing you need is for other projects to grind to a halt while you’re overseeing changes. Attempting to undertake a major change without a plan can throw your whole organization into chaos, causing your company to underperform. A change management plan alleviates this issue by empowering you to prioritize projects and allocate time and manpower appropriately. 

3. Fostering Stability

Rushing new projects can harm your company culture, and pushing employees to change too much too quickly is likely to result in resistance, or worse yet, total reversion. Embracing a change management approach gives you control over the amount of change happening within your company at any one time. This prevents the day-to-day operations of your business from becoming chaotic, minimizes the risk of snapback, and has even been linked to improved staff retention. 

4. Improved Morale

One of the most common reasons that change initiatives fail is that companies don’t fully consider the effect they will have on staff. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as much as 62% of employees do not like leaving their comfort zones at work. So, it’s clear that implementing change in a thoughtful manner is critical to success. An effective change management plan takes this into account, allowing you to keep employees in the loop about upcoming changes while providing them with clear channels through which they can voice their concerns. This makes them feel more valued, while will improve morale, and likely productivity, in the long term. 

5. Clarity of Vision

When attempting to implement change within an organization, few things are more counterproductive than internal friction. Resistance from within is usually a sign that the goals and priorities of your employees or management are not fully aligned with that of the organization. However, by adopting a change management strategy it’s possible to sidestep this issue, making sure that every member of your organization understands your vision for the future with perfect clarity. In addition, they will understand exactly which changes need to be made and why. This puts everyone on the same page, creating harmony and allowing you to get on with the business of achieving your company’s mission.

6. Future-Proofing

Modern enterprise is a case of survival of the fittest, in that those who are the most responsive to change are the ones that thrive. Establishing a strong change management framework is a worthwhile time investment because it creates a fully reusable blueprint for continued change. In this sense, change management makes your organization more robust and adaptable, giving you a competitive edge in your market and ensuring that you are well prepared for new challenges further down the road.

7. Creating Leaders

While times of major transformation can be stressful for all involved, they also present a rare and valuable opportunity for organic leadership development. Change management strategies can empower you to take advantage of this opportunity to the fullest extent. By providing a clear structure in which natural leaders can show their worth by sponsoring progress, change management strategies can help you to develop and identify elite management talent within your organization.

8. Increased ROI

Aside from the obvious opportunity costs associated with a failed change initiative, there are also substantial financial costs to consider. Programs and projects that are mismanaged often need to be reworked, which can mean significant further investment. Unsurprisingly, this adds up quickly and can put a substantial dent in your margins. Utilizing a carefully-planned change management strategy will help you to dramatically increase your chances of success, which will have a positive long-term impact on your bottom line.

Regardless of whether your company is an established market leader or a new enterprise that’s still in it’s infancy, odds are you stand to gain something from embracing change management. Change is unavoidable, but success is always a choice.