Someone told me recently, “Nontrivial developments need to be change-managed in order to avoid chaos.” I have to say I agree with 80 percent of that statement.
I absolutely agree with the nontrivial developments. I see that sometimes when someone latches onto the concept of change management, it kind of gets done to death, and you don’t want to take it to the point where it interferes with the organization.
But the whole concept of “to avoid chaos” I don’t agree with. Sometimes people have this view of change as employees running in the streets Godzilla-style pointing to the sky like it’s falling.
A lot of times with workforces there can be a smooth transition when making changes.
Sometimes it’s not about putting out a fire or stopping something from happening; it’s just about making sure that the transition is as successful as possible.
My first solid experience with a change management plan was when I worked for MCI WorldCom when the Bernie Ebbers scandal went down. I took part in probably one of the largest change management plans that ever existed.
The company went into bankruptcy. We had to prepare people at the call center level for what was going to happen—what it all meant, how to deal with the press, what it meant for their jobs, what it meant for the company’s policies and procedures, what to expect moving forward.
The scale of the change was huge and the time frame was very, very short. So I had to read through the change management plan created by the company and then go out and keep a mutiny from happening.
Utilizing a Change Management Plan
I think a company should view a change management plan as a proactive—rather than reactive—tool. If you make the change management plan part of your standard operating procedures and part of how you handle things, then it doesn’t seem like you’re “pulling the wool” over employees’ eyes.
When employees get ambushed with change or bombarded with change, that’s where there are going to be some negative feelings and unnecessary resistance.
That’s why companies should view change management plans as part of what they already do.
When you’re thinking about bringing a new project on board; when you’re thinking about interfacing with a new client; when you’re changing a policy or procedure, you should automatically be thinking:
- “How are we going to communicate this?”
- “What are the reasons behind it that we’ll be communicating?”
- “What kind of resources can we provide employees to help ease this transition?”
In my next Insight, I’ll explain the steps companies can take to develop a change management plan.