Change management: The ultimate guide

What is change management?

Change management refers to the set of models and measures you can adopt in order to deal with change that comes in your direction. It encapsulates all the operations, instruments, and strategies required to shepherd your teams or your company through transitions. 

The primary goal of change management is to foster adaptability, minimize disruption, and maximize the chances of success during the evolution process.

Benefits of change management

Wondering what change management can do for you? Let us look at some of the many benefits it provides:

• Resistance minimization: Mapping out your organizational goals and setting defined expectations helps you and your team to mentally prepare for the coming changes. This reduces the chances of resistance. Moreover, your change management plans should always involve ways to deal with any resistance that pops up. 

• Operational efficiency: Having a change management system in place drastically reduces the time taken to deal with said changes. If you consider automation and AI capabilities as part of your change management plan, your team members can pour countless hours into tasks that actually need their undivided attention. 

• Morale boosting: When employees are kept in the loop with their feedback and participation treated as an important aspect of the development process, they accept it with improved vigor and interest. 

• Improved adaptability: Using change management strategies, you can keep your team ready to deal with anything that comes their way.

• Communication and collaboration: Change management tools and strategies help dismantle unnecessary communication silos. Certain excellent software can send updates to all stakeholders and keep them informed of changes in real-time. Moreover, specifically in ITSM, developers can stay on the same page regarding changes and feedback, minimizing repetition through miscommunication.

Types of change management

Change management is a multifaceted approach. Given its complexity, it can be divided into many categories. For simplicity’s sake, however, they can be broadly categorized into two parts based on their area of influence:

Individual change management

This category encompasses change management systems that impact individuals. It is further subdivided into the following:

• Exceptional change management: This concerns individual team members as they experience an isolated event that impacts their position within the organization. It, however, does not extend to spheres outside of the work environment. 

• Incremental change management: This type of change is marked by a continual and gradual transition, and its gradual nature makes it challenging to notice.

• Pendulum change management: This change management deals with sudden shifts or swings. Such changes often place individuals at a diametrically opposite perspective than their previous positions. 

Organizational change management

This category encompasses change management systems that impact entire organizations. It is further broken into:

• Strategic change management: Deals with changes made to business policies, structure, and operations to boost competitive market advantage and as a response to opportunities and threats. 

• People-centric change management: Deals with changes concerning human resources to meet the demands and needs of the working populace. This includes changes to parental leave policies, new hires, layoffs, or workplace communication guidelines. 

• Structural change management: This includes hierarchical and structural changes that govern how an organization is operated. It deals with shifts in management, assigned responsibilities, job structure, etc. 

• Technological change management: This is a part of companies evolving with the times as new technologies and tools are implemented to improve business. 

• Unplanned change management: Deals with engaging in actions that need to be executed after an unforeseen event.

• Remedial change management: Once a problem has been detected, a remedy needs to be administered. This form of change management deals with the changes occurring from the necessary actions taken to alleviate a problem.

How does change management work?

The change management process involves meticulous steps that cover the entire development cycle from start to finish. It involves establishing a clear, effective communication channel to communicate the changes and collect feedback on how the changes or the implementation process can be improved. 

You can somewhat tweak these steps to suit your needs. They can vary depending on the industry you are a part of or the departments you work with. Let us take a glance at how change management is implemented in various facets of multiple industries. 

Change management for software development

To ensure the timely delivery of a quality product, developers often change software services and products from an existing state to an improved step by following a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). But you need a change management system to implement and roll out changes orderly. 

Software development is an ongoing process that requires flexibility, adaptability, and collaboration. When a change is required, it is usually put into the epics as a user story. These are addressed by developers as they are simultaneously working on the primary development timeline. This has led industry giants like Sophos to adopt change management strategies using CRM and OCM tools. 

Change management for IT infrastructure

Effective change management is a mandatory part of IT infrastructure. It is crucial for maintaining the stability, security, and performance of IT systems. Your employees can communicate changes with other departments using competent OCM tools that receive customer-grade service from your IT infrastructure team. The infrastructure users can raise tickets or incidents for your team to resolve. 

Change management at the project level

Change management systems must track the entire project lifecycle. During development, a project goes through various stages. At every stage, new trends, new feedback, new epics, etc., might influence the development midway through. With a proper change management system in place, it is easier to stay focused on your primary goal while resolving the issues that constantly come up in a timely fashion. 

Project-level change management complements project management or solution development approaches. While project management encompasses the technical side, change management encircles the human side of engagement, adoption, and use. Both work in tandem to deliver the final product. 

Change management at the organizational level

Organizational change is a necessary part of the growth and success of any company. On average, 79.7% of people need to change their business processes every two to five years. Many factors can act as a catalyst for this. From changes in consumer demands to advancements in tech, you and your organization need to stay at the top of your game to keep scaling up with your change management system. 

When these change requests come in, or when the CEO or other managerial-level executives deem a change necessary, the process starts by identifying systems, processes, or employees who need to adopt a change. They are instructed, trained, and educated to adapt the changes to their daily routines.

Why is change management important?

To achieve success in business, it is imperative to acknowledge and prepare for unavoidable changes. However, there are other direct and indirect reasons as to why change management is an essential factor for success. The most important of them are as follows:

• Competitive success: The market is ever-changing. And if you want to keep up your chances of success, you need to adapt to the opportunities and risks that it puts in front of you. A survey states that 51 % of its participants chose market competitiveness as a cause for implementing a change management plan. Without a proper strategy in place, responding to the volatile changes would not be possible. 

• Boosting adaptability: Changes arrive in various forms. Some may even be legally required and deal with laws and regulatory issues like GDPR. They can simply be related to issues of customer preference. The increasing demand for online and cashless shopping is a good example. Technological changes are the most common of all, where an industry has to evolve with new technological developments. Using a proper change management system, you and your team can boost your adaptability in order to react aptly to any changing scenarios. 

• Development of technology: Innovations are endless in this Age of Information. And ignorance is a sin. Teams must always remain updated with the latest technology trends since customers and employees either want the latest products or are trying to fix compatibility issues. IT teams need to identify the core issue and implement fixes to resolve it. Without a proper change management strategy, they can get caught off-guard, lose sight of their main goal, or even get complacent with their upkeep and maintenance.

• Responding to crises: Without an effective change management system, combating unprecedented crises can be quite challenging. Be it external or internal, issues can arise from any cog in the proverbial industrial machine. This may give rise to problems with employees, investor demands, consumer preferences, market volatility, etc. Implementing changes without preparing for the aftereffects would be a fool’s pursuit.

What are the challenges of change management?

Change management is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is never easy to implement changes. While change management plans give us assistance, it is up to the stakeholders and team leaders to see how they are implemented. 

That said, there are certain common challenges to change management. Let us browse through some:

• Ticket management: Technicians can often struggle with resolving tickets, especially when they are not presented on a singular, unified screen. Scattered tickets can often lead to ignored issues, late resolution, and the generation of multiple ticket instances. 

• Managing multiple SLAs: It is important to uphold the promises that a company makes to its consumers. A Service-Legal Agreement (SLA) serves as a contract between a service provider and its customers. It records what services the provider will give and marks out the service standards the provider is obligated to meet. 

Setting up multiple SLA policies for different business hours and incident categories can be a troubling thing to achieve without a competent organizational change management (OCM) tool. It can hamper your reputation with your consumers if their needs are not met. 

• Repetitive tasks: Change management involves dealing with tasks that may be repetitive yet simple. Tasks such as simple data entry or logging feedback can often be prone to human errors as well. Without powerful automation systems, it is often difficult to take care of such tasks as they are also quite draining your employee morale. 

• Miscommunication: Every organization can suffer from having unnecessary communication silos. Messages from multiple platforms to multiple people can lead to overlaps. Moreover, without a unified communication system, updates or required changes can be missed by a part of your team. Without fostering collaboration and unified communication through a proper tool, getting your message across can be quite a challenge.

• Tech-trouble: There are certain applications that your teams require to function. But even they may present challenges with updates, compatibility, or ease of use. Getting a good OCM tool can solve this issue by providing you with relevant integrations to support your team on a singular platform constantly.

Change management impact on your organization

Whether you belong to IT, retail, manufacturing, or the service sector, change management can produce tons of positive effects for your organization. 

Let us look at some of the impacts you can expect after implementing effective change management:

• Increase in operational efficiency

• Employees enjoying a morale boost

• Increased customer satisfaction

• Greater preparedness leads to mitigating the effects of risks

• Better communication and collaboration

• Fostering a better work culture leads to better employee retention

• Increased ROI

Top reasons why change management initiatives fail

Not every change management strategy goes off without a hitch. Only 34 % of the change initiatives ever succeed. Let us look at the top reasons why they fail so you can steer clear of them:

• Two-thirds of employees face burnout crisis. This can easily lead to transformational failure since disgruntled employees are more averse to adopting changes in a positive manner. 

• 46 % of CIOs have reported that if there is a culture of distrust between management and teams, the transition is most likely to fail. 

• A lack of initiative from the top brass and leadership is another driving factor that leads to failure in change management initiatives. Organizations, where CEOs communicated a strong transformation story, were 5.8 times more likely to succeed with their change initiative. 

• A communication gap is also seen as a central factor leading to transitional failure. 74 % of employees believe that friction is caused because their supervisors do not communicate with or try to understand their issues.

Tips to manage change effectively

Change management can be a complex business. Failure is a very real possibility. After all, 70 % of change initiatives tend to fail. But you don’t want to indulge in failure since 31 % of CEOs are fired over botched change management. 

Here are a few tips to guide you along the way while ensuring that doesn’t happen:

• Before taking up any initiative to bring about change, plan carefully. Make sure to have a clear goal in mind with well-defined milestones. Document potential problems, changing responsibilities, and the tasks that need to be performed. 

• Resistance is a part of change. But don’t give in to the desire to hide details to avoid momentary resistance. Always remain transparent with every stakeholder to foster an environment of trust and cooperation. This will not only make them feel more comfortable but will also reduce the chances of strong friction. 

• Some of your team members may not be wholly acquainted with the new changes that you are rolling out. Try supporting them by providing educational and training programs to bridge any gaps in skill, knowledge, or experience. 

• Change takes time. Always try going for gradual rollouts over hasty shifts. Fast transitions can hamper your work environment and culture and leave stakeholders dissatisfied. Give your employees a chance to adjust to the changes that you are suggesting and making. 

• Never give up on post-implementation reviews and monitoring. Maintain consistent supervision over the rollout process and how people are adjusting to it. Be vigilant about detecting problems and address them as soon as possible.

How to build a change management plan?

Now that you have a good grasp on the essentials you need to get started with constructing a change management plan, how do you go about building one?

While every industry and department needs to have its outline, here is a general path that one can take to build an effective change management plan.

• Start with assessing and planning your current situation and the reasons behind the oncoming change. Locate the external or internal factors at play or discern the strategic goal that needs to be undertaken. 

• Clearly define your objectives concerning the changes to be made. 

• Clearly identify the stakeholders of the change. This should include all parties who shall be affected by it, including employees, customers, and suppliers. 

• Create a dedicated change management team consisting of representatives of all departments that may be affected by the changes. 

• Carry out a readiness assessment for your organization. Make sure that your company and employees are ready to take on the proposed changes. 

• Map out a proper communications plan to disseminate information and updates regarding the change. Make sure to keep your communication channels transparent and straightforward.  

• Find out gaps in skills and knowledge that are required for the transition. Develop educational and training programs to help your teams prepare themselves for the transition.

• Once you take care of all these things, you are ready to move on to the execution phase. You need to decide whether the implementation will be a gradual one or a full-scale rollout. 

• Once implemented, the effects of the transition need to be constantly monitored. You need to collect feedback from all the stakeholders to improve the process further. 

• Finally, never let up on the mantra of constant refinement and keep rolling out updates and improvements based on collected feedback.

Popular change management models

Change management looks hard, doesn’t it? However, you don’t have to shoot in the dark. Certain pre-established models can guide you through adopting new processes and maximize ROI for business operational changes. Let us sift through some of the most effective models that will act as a compass for you and your team. 

ADKAR Change Management Model

Developed by Jeff Hiatt, the founder of Prosci, the ADKAR model can be expanded into the following:

• Communicate the need for the change to take place and create Awareness surrounding it. Begin clear examples of why the change is needed. Encourage your team to ask questions and answer them with clarity and brevity. 

• Resistance is normal when a change is introduced. People usually don’t want to change if they are already in a comfortable spot despite understanding why the change is necessary. Hence, the second step is to foster the desire to bring about change. 

• Training your team members is a pivotal part of ensuring a successful transition. Hence, the third step comprises providing Knowledge on how they can help implement the change. 

• While skills and knowledge are essential factors, bringing about change is a very human process. A lack of confidence in one’s competence can become fatal. Hence, the fourth step comprises ensuring that your team has the ability to act based on the acquired knowledge. 

• Finally, individuals are prone to regressing. Hence, the last step of the process involves reinforcing the change. 

Bridges' Transition Model

Bridges' Transition Model, created by William Bridges, is used by organizations and people to effectively manage and work through change. 

It has three stages: 

• Endings: Transitions commence with acknowledging endings, understanding post-loss remnants, and leveraging resources for reconstruction. Individuals assess losses and strategize coping mechanisms during this phase.

• Neutral zone: This pivotal transition phase involves the establishment of new patterns and alignments as the old fade away. Critical psychological thinking and introspection occur, prompting individuals to explore various possibilities and roles, laying the groundwork for new beginnings.

• New beginnings: New beginnings signify individuals actively embracing their new roles, identities, and directions. As they learn, evolve, and contribute, they feel revitalized and energized, embracing fresh possibilities and fully reorienting themselves for the desired direction.

IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

ITIL is an IT service management framework that outlines best practices for delivering IT services. It helps in risk management, customer relations, efficient and effective methods in delivering the services, building a stable model to allow scaling, and establishing cost-effective practices. 

The original thirty books comprising contents of ITIL were consolidated into seven books, encompassing comprehensive information about ITIL. At its core, it’s a collection of resources centered around delivering best practices for IT service management while minimizing risk and ensuring the best customer service. For the most effective way to adopt ITIL, everyone needs to be on the same team to adapt to new practices and procedures. 

The long-term benefits of applying ITIL far outweigh any short-term time and resource consumption that will be invested into it. To apply it, you must research it thoroughly along with everyone, as they all bring the principles to working and breathing action, combining all the core principles of ITIL to their business.

Kotter's 8-step Change Model

World-renowned change expert, Kotter made an eight-step process to apply change to any organization and any big part of it. Here are the 8 steps: 

1. Create urgency: Creating urgency sets things in motion. Organizations may take time to reach a point where they need to change, but the time it takes to make the change isn’t long. 

2. Powerful coalition: One must have powerful ways and good leadership skills to convince and get everyone on board that the change is necessary for the organization.

3. Create a vision for change: A clear-cut view of the future and how this change could affect the organization and employees motivates and brings up new ideas and solutions

4. Communicate the vision: Your success in organizational change hinges on how effectively you communicate and implement your vision, ensuring alignment with shared values and beliefs among all stakeholders.

5. Remove obstacles: Identify people who are resisting the change and help them see things from your perspective, to what is needed and how it can contribute to the overall benefit of the organization

6. Create short-term wins: Success is the biggest motivator for continuous action with a compounding effect. Having little milestones that everyone can celebrate when the organization reaches them can help to keep the motivating factor up for everyone as the new change slowly integrates itself.

7. Build on the change: After each success, analyze what needs improvement. Identify what contributed to the overall change and consider its impact on the organization. Explore the most effective ways to strengthen and build on your successes. Apply these insights to other areas for a compound effect of success.

8. Anchor the changes in corporate culture: For a lasting change, align with core organizational beliefs, integrate into daily processes, instill new values in recruits, train existing members, and foster a corporate culture embracing the change.

Lewin's Change Management Model

To begin this process of change, you must understand why your organization needs this change. In the words of Lewin, ‘Motivation for change must be generated before change can occur.’ The following stages are used for Lewin's Change Management Model-

• Unfreeze: This stage involves getting everyone on board and preparing for the new change

• Change: This stage involves dealing with the uncertainty caused in the unfreeze stage and applying the change, looking for a new way to do things. Everyone starts to believe and act in a way that promotes the new change.

• Refreeze: Refreeze is when the organization is stabilized with the new change; the change itself has become a part of it, which can be shown in stable organization charts, job descriptions, etc. This stage helps the people and organization to internalize the changes.

McKinsey 7-S

McKinsey 7-S is a model that addresses the critical role of organizational design. The goal of the model is to showcase how change can be effective in an organization through the interactions of seven key elements:

• Structure

• Strategy

• Skill

• System

• Shared Values

• Style

• Staff

Change management software for your business

Change management doesn’t have to be complex, with the right software to help you at each step. The easiest solution to this would be employing competent change management software that can take care of all your needs. 

Good change management software comes equipped with the best-in-class visualization capabilities to help you visualize the lifecycle of your change projects. You can perform checks in real-time monitoring. Automation is another essential feature that cannot be ignored if you want to minimize the amount of time spent on repetitive tasks. 

Change Advisory Boards (CABs) are an integral part of OCM. With proper software, you can transform the traditional slow model into a digitized and easy experience. It should also come with a shared calendar system to inform your teammates regarding your whereabouts. 

Speaking of teammates, the software should offer customer-grade service for employees from other departments who raise tickets to your ITSM department. Finally, you can’t miss out on integrations just because you chose to work with OCM software. It should have seamless integrations with popular apps like MS Teams and Slack with no compromise. 

If you want OCM software that comes with all the most modern and powerful features while being the most transparent, go for Freshservice, the best ITSM software out there!

How to lead change management successfully?

Leading an effective change management initiative involves seamless coordination among impeccable planning, transparent communication, empathy, and flexibility. Here are a few things great business leaders do to make change happen:

• Formulating a clear plan with a convincing vision. 

• Assembling a competent team 

• Being visible and accessible to all stakeholders

• Being inclusive towards all members of the team

• Leading by example

• Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the initiative

• Maintaining a big-picture perspective

• Not shying away from external support if needed