Why Change Management Strategies are Critically Important 

Change affects people emotionally.

Organizational change management strategies help leaders so they can guide employees through the emotional responses associated with change.

As an HR professional, I have helped employers and their employees cope with major organizational changes. When not properly managed, these changes can take organizations on paths of unintended detours and consequences.

For example, organizations can be faced with unintended consequences such as: 

• Disruption, which can cause employees to lose focus
• Disappointment, particularly in terms of employee expectations/letdowns
• Disorientation, as employees can feel a loss of control
• Disengagement, which can affect employee productivity

As stated above, change affects people emotionally—and, we also know that some people can emotionally handle change much better than others. Some people are just more resilient and, the more resilient someone is, the quicker he or she can adapt to change.

All the while, though, employers will want to stay tuned-in to those employees who might not be as adaptive to change.  Some employees can be very resistant to change and at varying degrees.

As individuals, we have different needs from one another.

Change can feel quite threatening to some people, which in turn can affect their behavior. When HR professionals work with employers going through major organizational changes, they remind employers to watch for certain workplace warning signs at individual levels. Among them: 

• Behavioral changes
• Productivity changes
• Engagement changes

All such warning signs can lead to organizations facing undesirable bottom-line results. This is why it’s critical that organizations have change management strategies in place.

Not only that, if there are too many changes—at too fast a rate—and within too short a period of time, employers will have additional contributing factors compounding disruption issues.

As a result, employers can find that the ultimate sustainability of the changes they are striving to implement will be drastically reduced.

By contrast: When organizational leaders (a) watch for those warning signs, as mentioned above; and, when they (b) develop change management strategies, they will significantly increase the likelihood for successful transitions.

To help illustrate, imagine this: Think about a sponge that has become so saturated that it can no longer hold water.

The same principle holds true for individuals. When human beings are subjected to enduring change after change after change—they tend to get maxed out on their capacities to sustain those changes. 

You can almost hear employees thinking, “Enough is enough. I can’t take this any more.”

In closing, it’s very important that organizational leaders orchestrate the flow of change and think through their strategies in order to determine the answers to such questions as: 

1. What are the major changes we plan to implement
2. How many of these changes are we going to implement at one time?
3. What is going to be our plan for overlapping the changes?
4. Is there sufficient capacity among those impacted to sustain the change?

In my next Insight, I will review the considerations and steps involved in developing an effective change management strategy.

Organizational change management strategies help leaders guide employees through the emotional responses associated with change.