8 steps to a successful change management

Change management is an extremely important topic, especially in the current scenario, when we talk about transformation and innovation in industry or any other organization. In the face of crises and threats, it becomes essential to have a plan to bypass the threat/crisis and adapt to a new reality. However, it is very common to notice that many companies are not prepared and don't know how to implement these changes and succeed from new objectives. With that in mind, John Kotter created the 8 steps for implementing effective change management within organizations, and in this article we'll walk through those steps and understand, with examples, how you can apply them at your industry. The 8 steps:1. Establishing a sense of urgencyEstablishing a sense of urgency isn't easy, since it doesn't happen as a single event — it's based on a process closely tied to the organization's leaders. In many cases everyone knows what the problem is and the path to solve it, but what's often missing is the initiative of someone pulling the change. Whether triggered by an external factor or not, we notice the main opponent of the process is often complacency — the thinking that we don't need to change because things are working today. But the scenario today isn't necessarily the scenario tomorrow, and since things don't happen overnight, understanding the need to change, modernize and the urgency of that change is fundamental. An interesting point to note is that some companies hire specialists who, besides properly assessing the real need for change, help bring the sense of urgency, since it's not something only being seen internally — third parties also see it and alert us.2. Build a coalitionOnce the sense of urgency is established, the second step is to build a team that will pull these changes, and its size can vary from a small group to a group with more than 30 people depending on the company's size. Basically, at this point we're talking about both the leadership aspect and the aspect of sharing and spreading the idea that change is needed. So in an industry, for instance, it does no good for production to have an initiative if the other areas don't share the desire to change and embrace it. In that sense, what works very well is operating with some matrix structures — with functions on one axis and other areas, such as operational excellence, working crosswise. That gives us a group of people more focused on spreading these changes across the industry's different areas.3. Define a visionOnce we have an established sense of urgency and the coalition — the group of people that will pull these changes — it's time to define a vision. That vision must be simple, something everyone can understand and get engaged with in just a few minutes to drive change. We see many companies at certain moments working with a heavy focus on project and goal, micromanaging, and getting out of step with the macro vision/objective, generating unpreparedness for these changes by being focused on more specific points. So at this step it's important to step away from the playbook and observe the steps needed to fulfill the final objective.4. Communicate the visionThis step is basically about taking that information/vision to as many people as possible so everyone knows the objective and can help drive change. Some examples we've seen within our projects, which were crucial to their success, are that the executive-level project owners, at key moments, were present to communicate why the project was starting, what action was being taken and how important it was for the area/organization. The same becomes important when a project from a specific area also impacts another area — a solid, very clear communication needs to be established so there's good engagement and both areas buy into the project's importance to the whole. It's worth noting that communication isn't just speeches, talks and bulletins; communication also happens through actions, by setting the example.5. Remove obstaclesThe fifth step is to eliminate resistance. In this process you'll certainly find some resistance, some originated by lack of knowledge and others by conflicting objectives. As mentioned, our main concern is the convenience and inertia of leaving things as they are — after all, during the routine we manage to get by. The smoothest way to remove these barriers is through training and knowledge sharing. That is, communication is the main tool for removing many barriers, although often that's not enough, since these changes can heavily impact adjacent areas and require more meticulous work to figure out how to overcome them — often needing direct support from leadership.6. Create short-term winsThis sixth step is the continuous planning of small wins, so we can maintain the urgency to change from step one through small, continuous stages. That is, if there are several gains along the process, the team doesn't wait too long to see results, which reduces the chance of demotivation. Bringing this to software and new-technology implementation in industry, even though projects are large and need to follow more classic project management methodologies, the more we can bring in agile-methodology principles and involve people from impacted areas in tests and simulations, the better.7. Consolidate wins and the pace of changeThe penultimate point is consolidating gains and not losing momentum. Basically, the goal is to ensure the wins we've had so far aren't lost and are optimized over time. The key here is working with solid, well-controlled indicators and continuously monitoring them to understand that these actions aren't part of a one-off project with a beginning, middle and end — they're part of a continuous optimization process. Something pretty clear in software implementation processes is that, after some time, in some cases the teams disband or focus shifts, which can cause demobilization — something we want to avoid. To do that, these teams need to see that changes are continuous and results come more in the medium and long term, and to that end motivation needs to stay stable and be regularly nourished.8. Embed change into the organizational cultureThe eighth point is the idea of embedding this change into the organization's culture — companies internalizing the notion that they need to be in constant change and updating within their organizational culture. This embedding ranges from lessons-learned work and communicating how these actions happened, to how these changes are being applied in the company's daily reality. In addition, it's important to think about succession matters, both for executives and for the areas running the projects, so these changes and new mindsets are transmitted naturally and solidly with no discontinuity. We can tell change is embedded in the organizational culture when it no longer depends on one specific person.Watch the full content:[embed]https://youtu.be/9RWQToZd0Ds[/embed][noptin-form id=2822]