Whether you are driving a change initiative or you are reacting to a disruptive occurrence in your market, being able to guide your team in a new direction is an art and a science. Unlike computer programs that can be relatively easy to modify, changing direction in a company relies mostly on getting the buy-in of people.
At Vectoral we defined the Change Management Process using a four-phase model:
Phase I: Validation
Regardless of the magnitude of the proposed change, we need to ensure that we have validated its need and its alignment with our strategic and business goals. It is key to identify the drivers for the change:
- Do new market conditions offer new business opportunities?
- Is the business in expansion or contraction for strategic purposes?
- Have the current processes grown heavy with bureaucracy and unnecessary steps?
- Is it possible to integrate new technologies to facilitate operational processes?
- Is the change mandated by new regulations?
While we might recognize the need to change and have the desire to do it, it is key to stop and evaluate the magnitude of the change needed. At Vectoral we have guided change efforts that have resulted in greater profitability, higher sales, and improved customer and employee satisfaction. Essential to that success is defining the right scope for the change.
Phase II: Write the Change Playbook
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” – Benjamin Franklin
Every change process needs a roadmap and a plan of action. This plan needs to be comprehensive and includes important aspects like ensuring proper support by stakeholders, timelines with specific milestones, early victories to ensure momentum, a communication plan to maintain the change in the forefront, contingency planning, and a definition of what it means to be “done”.
Phase III: Execution and Maneuver
No plan, regardless of how meticulously conceived it was, could be executed as written in the real world. Ironically, what presents the biggest challenge to Change Management is change itself. The implementation phase of any Change Management initiative requires a balance between focused execution and the ability to maneuver unchallenged barriers.
Grit is the determining factor that decides whether a corporation is able to make a change possible and permanent. The execution phase requires a great deal of leadership involvement, active communication of progress, and willingness to take risks. We have guided executive and management teams through this phase. We are able to do this because we work across all organizational levels with ease and we know how to stay the course.
Phase IV: Institutionalize and Celebrate
A key success factor of any transformation is to clearly define when the work is “done”. In our experience, the most successful change management efforts identify and celebrate crossing a “finish line” despite having identified potential upscope. Having the discipline to stop to acknowledge the effort of people in achieving the stated goal is one of the distinguishing features of smart leadership. At Vectoral, we recognize the drive to continue the journey once momentum is gained, but we also work with senior management to create space for celebration for a better chance to have the change be permanent.
Leading Change is both science and art. On the one hand, it requires precision for processes and policies. On the other hand, change requires winning the hearts and minds of people.
F. A. Barillas, Vectoral Senior Consultant.