How to manage change and transform your organisation

Every organisation experiences change on a fairly regular basis. Some are small changes to policies or procedures and some are monumental transformations such as a revised strategy or shift in company direction. But one thing’s for certain, whatever size of change an organisation experiences, it will cause a level of disruption and discomfort to some people.

Managing change and transformation brings many challenges for organisations. Human beings are renowned for initially disliking anything that appears different to the normal way of doing things. Even when change is positive, there can still be a great deal of resistance from people working in a business. Attending business transformation courses or change management courses can greatly assist senior leaders and managers with introducing and embedding change and transformation into their organisations.

There are certain actions which will help things to run more smoothly when going through a period of change or transformation. Here are our top tips to ensure that your change programmes merge seamlessly into your organisation:-

1. Commitment from the top

It is absolutely vital that change and transformation initiatives are seen to be endorsed from the top of the organisation. Senior leaders and other stakeholders need to be 100% on board with the programmes and they need to be proactively extolling the benefits of the transformation at every opportunity

2. Communicate the change

One of the key criticisms from employees about organisational change programmes is that there is often a lack of communication about what exactly it’s all about and how it will benefit them, their team and the organisation. In order to avoid the inevitable rumours and scaremongering, you must communicate effectively and regularly

3. Support your managers

Managers are usually on the front line when an organisation is going through a period of change. People will typically approach their manager for clarification about their concerns, issues or difficulties. Managers must be trained and supported properly to deal with this. Preparing them for the possible fall out which can occur once the change programme is underway will greatly enhance its effectiveness

4. Plan & deliver development opportunities

Most organisational change and transformation will require a training and development programme to support it. Having a clear strategy and good understanding about what is needed, how it’s going to be delivered and when it’s necessary will speed up the process of the change becoming embedded into the organisation

In order to help managers and senior leaders to boost their change management capabilities Thales Training and Consultancy offer a range of business transformation courses and change management courses including Managing a changing environment and Leadership skills training. For more information or to book a course, please contact Sarah Harvey on 0808 231 0973.