8 Key Strategies For Managing Change

In my experience of practical strategies for managing change, I have identified 8 key areas that need to be considered and addressed in order to maximise your chances of success with a change initiative.

(1) Drivers

Assessing the case for change: Kurt Lewin's force field analysis work provides useful background and a practical tool for assessing the case for change - a necessary first step and an integral aspect of your strategies for managing change.

(2) Business As Usual

The single biggest and most important early decision that you will make, is to decide whether the change can be handled within the context of business as usual or not.

(3) Resources and Capabilities

The size of your organisation together with your knowledge base will determine what resources to consider to implement your strategies for managing change.

(4) Leadership

Is change just about the management or, does it involve leadership? If so, what's the difference? How you define and exercise leadership in the present climate will be a significant determinant in your organisation's fortunes and is thus a key aspect of your strategies for managing change.

(5) Cultural Impacts

What are the effects of your business culture on change management? Organisational culture - is more important than you may realise. It determines how your people will respond to a change initiative.

(6) Preparation and Planning

The amount of time allocated to the pre change programme review and planning process is variable - the size of the proposed change and how business critical it is, are useful guidelines. But whatever time is allocated, it is time very well spent as the process is designed to make you: think deeply about your proposed change; understand as fully as possible the impact it is likely to have, and work out clearly exactly how you are going to reap the benefits from the change.

(7) Macro management

Of all possible strategies for managing change, at the macro level, the programme management based approach to change management is the one most likely to ensure that you avoid the 70% failure rate. This approach has as it goal, the full realisation of the business benefits that will be derived from the delivery of the new capability. It is this holistic approach that links vision to strategy and all the way through to implementation and successful benefit realisation.

(8) Micro management

Managing change in a day to day business as usual context requires hands-on detailed micro management in the specifics of how to do it, and especially during the early stages. It is up to you to define and communicate those actionable steps, and to manage your people through the process of implementing and integrating those steps as the new modus operandi.