Change Management Bottlenecks

Business Change Management is managing everything that is necessary to get people to adopt new ways of working. 

Change is the new normal, in fact, the speed of change is increasing. To put simply, change itself changes. Digital ecosystem has become more complex and dynamic, Change Management also turns out to be more complex, and there is no magic formula to follow. That’s perhaps part of reasons why the failure rate of Change Management is so stubbornly high in the last two decades. The perils of Change Management can waste a lot of resources and cause a lot of pains. So, how to identify Change Management bottlenecks and build change as an ongoing business capability?





Communication bottleneck: Communication, exemplification, and amplification of best practices are all crucial steps in building a changing-enabling culture. Make sure all of the management is on board and educated well on the change objectives and how to carry them out effectively. Change cannot be just another thing that needs to be accomplished. It has to be woven into communication, process, and action of the organization. Unclear communication for vision, goals, the need for change, benefits of change and each one's role in the change is a huge mistake. Without strong-honest communication, early engagement of staff in the plan, rumors will hinder your progress. It is important to keep the communications open and creative, make each individual feel responsible for the success of the plan, engage them actively and make sure that your new proposal solves their current problems, and provide the better and creative working environment. Over-communication, regular updates, and plan adjustments will enhance your chances of success.

Process bottleneck: Change Management is all about balancing the main elements impacting change: People, strategies, processes/ procedures and IT. Change Management processes evaluation is important because process management is an important aspect of change capability building. The process of "Planned Change Management" shouldn’t be too rigid or overly prescribed, otherwise, it could create the bottleneck for streamlining change scenario. It’s important to have the team own a process by bringing them in early and getting their involvement in creating the process. In order to execute a successful Change Management process, there is a need to delegate roles and responsibilities of the process. During the whole process, make sure that all staff is aware of the plan/process, timely updated, breakthrough process bottleneck, and responsible for building change competency.

Speed bottleneck: The speed of change is dependent on the change leadership effectiveness and the changeability of the people. Change is happening at a more rapid pace, but it takes a lot of energy to break down old habits and outdated thought processes, for accelerating the speed of change at both individual and organizational level. Most people are quite willing to put the effort into change. What they don't want is 'to be changed by others.' That calls out for resistance. So, let them be part of the direction, speed and the way you are heading. Change managers need to regularly update and identify individual team members’ strengths and weaknesses, this enables timely intervention where and when challenges are identified. It is important for creating both internal and external beliefs around how business management is a movement for enablement and improvement, break through the bottleneck and increase the speed of changes.

Business Change Management is managing everything that is necessary to get people to adopt new ways of working such as, Stakeholder Management, process or organizational change, digital readiness, etc. Change is inevitable, and the only differences are the reasons and goals behind the change and its scope, depth, and breadth (why to change, what you need to accomplish, what does it consist of and what does it impact). Either for incremental changes or leapfrogging business transformation. It’s crucial to breakthrough these bottlenecks, keep information flow, communication flow, optimize process and speed, for building change as the differentiated business competency.

Posted in: Change Management,Lessons from Failures