For managers, following a clear strategy and investing the appropriate amount of time into completion of a change initiative can produce desired results. Employees who are ready to embrace change help managers create improved efficiencies, increase performance and obtain better results. Here are the four steps managers must take to ensure successful change management initiatives:
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1. Identify the Current Mythology
Regardless of what is happening organization-wide, managers looking to lead successful change must identify the current mythology by understanding the existing situation and any associated behaviors. As a manager who works closely with members of a team, it’s imperative to “get in their heads” to truly understand where they are in terms of unhappiness and dissatisfaction with the status quo. Identifying these issues correctly will help you more clearly define the path forward in leading change.
2. Understand Dissonance
As a rule, people are resistant to change and employees will generally not seek out or accept change even if they are unhappy or dissatisfied with a current situation. The thought process is that predictability is better than unpredictability, even if the current state is unsatisfying. Particularly in the work environment, willingness to change often requires more than unhappiness, but unpredictability. Only when the two happen simultaneously do people readily accept change. As a manager, understanding the concept of dissonance (and its role in helping change behaviour and attitudes about a change) is critical to a successful outcome.
By focusing on the unacceptability of the current state, and the benefits of the desired state, managers can help employees understand the need for the change. The first step is to face up to the mythology, the associated behaviours, and assess whether the unpredictability or dissonance exists.
3. Continue With Consistency
As the change is implemented, it’s critical for managers to create the predictability that is needed quickly so that people can see for themselves how it will result in better outcomes. If they believe that the change being presented will have better results consistently, and that it can be maintained long-term, they are more likely to respond positively.
4. Reinforce the Change
Despite the benefits, change never happens overnight and managers need to recognize the importance of reinforcing change for an extended amount of time before people will adopt it fully. That means collecting and analyzing feedback, managing resistance to change, and of course, celebrating successes as they happen. Only after consistent reinforcement will the change become the new mythology.
Success at leading change management initiatives depends entirely on a manager’s ability to understand his or her team and whether dissonance or unpredictability and unhappiness have come together. Through consistency and reinforcement, even the most difficult change can be met with success.
