The Varying Perspectives of Change Management

Moving from one level to another change maturity requires step-function changes in tools, culture, leadership, and process for building the change as a differentiated competency.

Change is inevitable. In the industrial era, the pace of change was more predictable and the scope of change is limited. Nowadays, digitalization disrupts not only the business boundary but also the industry boundary, as well as the geographical boundary. Change become more dynamic and distractive without planning and adaptability. The noble purposes of change are to pursue simplicity and improvement. There are positive changes and negative changes; there are incremental changes and disruptive changes, etc. Here are varying perspectives about Change Management.

Behavior, attitude, and mindset change: Many times, change is difficult because it evolves both the learning cruive and the emotional cycle behind it. If the organizational change management intends to change employees’ behavior through some mandatory rules, often change is not sustainable. Because behavior is the manifestation of attitude; Attitude results from thoughts, assumptions, and preferences. Those are the result of years of habits and reinforcement. Thus, the management should understand that you can make all changes you like, but unless people change their mindset, then, attitude, and then, behavior, the change will not be embedded and will not be sustained. To put another way, you can’t just control the people's behaviors manually because you can’t manipulate how they think. Change enablement through appropriate engagement is an important element of dealing with complex change. Individually, one of the true tests of a professional is to know when you don't know, cultivate healthy attitudes to keep learning, adapt to change with the right speed, practice a profession and develop changeability. At the organizational level, change management shouldn’t be just about taking a few random business initiatives, it’s an ongoing business capability with multi-stepped processes that include both change resolution and management disciplines.

Tactical and strategic changes: Tactical change evolves day to day tasks which should be accumulated endeavors of the long-term strategic changes. Change Management needs to go head in the head with strategy management at today’s business dynamic. Too often, changes are made as a reaction to outer impulses, crisis, and demands. This is the bureaucracy’s way of dealing with the digital new normal. To adapt to the increasing speed of change and manage a smooth change continuum, organizations have to become nimbler about handling tactical changes such as updating technologies, optimizing processes, and making continuous change deliveries. For strategic changes, it’s important to define why business improvement is needed, and then, cut through complacency so that systems stakeholders understand why it’s necessary to move in a new direction. Keep people involved and on track, maintain faithfulness to purpose, coordinate and integrate tactical change activities into strategic change and sustain improvement. For large-scale strategic changes, it’s also important to establish a cross-functional change team to involve the multifunctional management, space and time are made to scope, plan, and execute, not through ad-hoc activities. To put another way, managing tactical changes well in order to make a leap of strategic change such as digital transformation.

People change and organizational change: Change happens when changing is easier than maintaining the status quo and, more importantly, when people no longer feel threatened by it. Developing changeability takes effort and time. It’s the differentiated professional competency because it makes you confident that you are able to adapt to any given situation accepting, embracing, and thriving. Change comes from within the hearts and minds of the people. Every employee can empower themselves to make one small change to make their daily work environment better, more productive, creative, and delightful. To deal with fast-paced changes and continuous disruptions, growth mindset and cognitive intelligence are in strong demand to ride learning curves and make the progressive movement. Behavior can be changed either through operational adjustment or through adaptive shifts in thoughts or beliefs that result from looking inward and reflecting. In the organizational setting, to embrace change requires the change of mindset at every level and gain a good understanding that things cannot stay the same. Planned change, tuning organizational structures & systems and participative management are central to success. To change an organizational system, you must first understand the concept of the true meaning of the organizational system as well as the underlying functions and processes. It’s also important to break down silos and reprogram the holistic digital mindset and develop a framework approach to manage the organizational change in a structural way. This is the prerequisite groundwork that has to be done at all levels of the organization prior to initiating major changes or the large scale of business transformation.

'Change' is continuously happening and spiraling up in such a dynamic environment. Change doesn't happen overnight, but neither did the current situation. Change is a journey with varying perspectives. Remove mindset, culture or systemic obstacles. Moving from one level to another change maturity requires step-function changes in tools, culture, leadership, and process for building the change as a differentiated competency.

Posted in: Change Management,Digital Master