How to prepare to bring about change
Planning for change can occupy a great deal of a manager's time and energy, but it is not a process that can be left to chance: it can be tricky and disruptive if handled badly. Whether implementing a new job-rotation scheme, rearranging the office layout, introducing new technology, relocating your manufacturing operations, or anything else, a manager must use a preliminary, systematic planning approach to bring about successful change later...
1. Be convinced that change is necessary.
Are you sure that the intended change is sound and that there is every likelihood it will succeed? Is it practical, ethical, cost-effective? Will it solve more problems than it will create? Is it based on untested theory or speculation, on fashion, or a whim? Are the risks acceptable? Has it proven successful elsewhere? Can you specifically identify projected improvements in productivity? There is little to be gained from adopting a plan that is doomed to failure before it gets off the drawing board.
2. Analyse the change in terms of the present and the future.
Now would also be the time to question what might happen if you did nothing. Get a clear picture of your present organisation without the change in place. Then visualise the situation as it will be after the change is implemented. By visualising a future state, you're able to put a new perspective on the present, and be assured that the proposed change is worthy of support. Without a vision, change efforts dissolve into a list of time-consuming, incompatible, and confusing projects going in different directions - or nowhere at all.
3. Understand why the change might be resisted.
Resistance to change is a natural response because we usually prefer stability and feel comfortable and satisfied with habit and routine. If anything diverging from the norm is introduced into our environment, it will be seen as disruptive. As well, change is often resisted because of -
Self-interest:- I will lose money, status, privileges, and authority. I will have added responsibility with no adequate recompense.
Fear:- I don't have the skills and experience to adapt. I'll be worse off than I am now.
Uncertainty:- I don't understand the specifics of the change. What does it all mean? How secure is my job? Will it mean more work?
External pressure:- I resent external interference and want to be in control of my own destiny. I have had little to say in the change.
Past experience:- I've become too cynical about change. It's been too disruptive and ineffective in the past.
