Change-300x184

Changing your systems and processes

Change

Let’s Face it…

Changing your technology, the backbone of your business and the way that things have always been done can be quite scary for many people and for many reasons.  Most of the time an aversion to change goes hand in hand with a want to protect the years of habitual, drummed in processes that have, over time, become second nature and so familiar that to change anything would be absolutely catastrophic… Or so it would seem.  

These same people may have forgotten what it was like when they first started working for the company and the very big changes they went through, came out the other side of, that became part of their culture and ultimately they survived from.  

When you work with Change Management Principles and best practices these big scary changes become manageable, bite size challenges which anyone can overcome with support and guidance.

Here are some principles that ServiceTracker work with when implementing technology and processes aimed facilitate change to your business and people.

Change management principles

  1. Understand where you/the organisation is at the moment.
  2. Understand where you want to be, when, why, and what the measures will be for having got there.
  3. Plan development towards above No.2 in appropriate achievable measurable stages.
  4. At all times involve and agree support from people within system (system = environment, processes, culture, relationships, behaviours, etc., whether personal or organisational).
  5. Communicate, involve, enable and facilitate involvement from people, as early and openly and as fully as is possible.

Often you start by asking yourself “What would we do differently if we were just starting out?”  Grasp this and you have covered items  1,2 and 3 from the principles checklist and you are then on your way to planning and communicating your change effectively with the team.

From then on it is a case of managing the change and helping people through it. This is made simpler using the following 8 steps taken from John Kotter’s eight step model of successful change.

‘Eight steps to successful change’

  1. Increase urgency – inspire people to move, make objectives real and relevant.
  2. Build the guiding team – get the right people in place with the right emotional commitment, and the right mix of skills and levels.
  3. Get the vision right – get the team to establish a simple vision and strategy, focus on emotional and creative aspects necessary to drive service and efficiency.
  4. Communicate for buy-in – Involve as many people as possible, communicate the essentials, simply, and to appeal and respond to people’s needs. De-clutter communications – make technology work for you rather than against.
  5. Empower action – Remove obstacles, enable constructive feedback and lots of support from leaders – reward and recognise progress and achievements.
  6. Create short-term wins – Set aims that are easy to achieve – in bite-size chunks. Manageable numbers of initiatives. Finish current stages before starting new ones.
  7. Don’t let up – Foster and encourage determination and persistence – ongoing change – encourage ongoing progress reporting – highlight achieved and future milestones.
  8. Make change stick – Reinforce the value of successful change via recruitment, promotion, new change leaders. Weave change into culture.

Kotter’s eight step model is explained more fully on his website www.kotterinternational.com if you would like to read more.

If you would like to know more about how ServiceTracker work with you on all aspects of our technology deployment and change management please contact us on 033 02231022 or email to info@servicetracker.uk.com

References

http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm

http://www.businessballs.com/organizationalchange.htm

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