4 Essential Change Management Strategies
(Successful Change Management isn’t difficult)
Successful Change Management isn’t difficult. Some leaders dread change. Others are change junkies! Don’t feel bad if you’re the former. Change your thinking. Become a change junkie!
Before embarking upon a change initiative, Antrim Consulting recommends you become familiar with two words: change and resistance. Why resistance? Quite simply, it’s always a sidekick of change! Resistance that is not recognized and met has the potential to doom your change initiatives.
According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, the word change[1] is defined in terms of life,“ … making or becoming different, … an alteration or modification.” When defined as a verb, it is, “… change from one system or situation to another.” In contrast, resistance is defined as, “… the act or an instance of resisting; refusal to comply.”[2] Unfortunately, resistance is often viewed negatively.
For many years, management viewed employee resistance of any kind, unionized, non-unionized, group, and/or individual, as a threat to a stable workplace.
Approximately 70% of all change initiatives fail[3]
6 Reasons for Change Failures
1. Inability to identify disruptive issues
2. Difficulty eradicating entrenched positions
3. Failure to communicate a need to eliminate disruptive issue
4. Untrained leadership
5. Flawed change management design
6. Failure to achieve stakeholder buy-in
4 Strategies for Change Management Success
For over 20 years, Antrim Consulting has observed impressive results when leaders implement 4 Successful Change Management Strategies.
1. Identify issues for change and future growth — Don’t Delay!
2. Chart/discuss potential changes. Listen for and address any resistance
3. Brainstorm innovative solutions for sustaining change
4. Develop a shared Change Journey
Antrim Consulting encourages leaders to listen for active and passive resistance. One or both might occur. Managing the change guarantees stakeholder buy-in. Commitment to shared visions, collaboration, and innovative solutions result in long-term successful change.
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when
we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.
For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort,
that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
M. Scott Peck (1936-2005)
American Writer & Psychiatrist
Key Benefits of Change Management
Build employee acceptance, readiness, and buy-in for ongoing process and procedural change
Support workforce creativity and a spirit of internal competition
Maintain high standards for individual and team communication, goal setting, and on-time project completion
Enrich innovative thinking and cultural cohesiveness
Promotes a Culture of Learning
Antrim’s Invitation
Success lies in the details. These strategies are the tip of your change initiative iceberg. Our well-tested Change Management tools and techniques are highly successful. However, we haven’t met. We don’t know the barriers and constraints in your system. We don’t know the knowledge, skills, and abilities of your change leaders. To be sure, there are many issues that might negatively impact your change initiatives. We’re here to help and will enjoy being your Change Management Junkie Companion!
Online &/or Onsite Coaching
Free 1 Hour Initial Consultation
CONTACT ANTRIM CONSULTING