CHANGE SHAPERS LEAD THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE INSIDE OUT

As Darwin stated: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, it is the one that is most adaptable to change”.

In the business world, change is the new constant. Organizations must manage more change initiatives, at a faster pace, than ever before. And yet, we find change scary, often perceived by leadership as “difficult, costly, and weird.”. It signals uncertainty. It gives the leadership the space to fail. It starts with the people; they have to change too.

The research report from McKinsey & Co. (2015) highlights that 70% of organizational change efforts fail, and that the primary reasons for that level of failure are lack of management support and employee buy-in. Similarly, according to a recent Gartner survey, half of change initiatives fail, and only 34% are a clear success.

Leadership understands the imperative to change, but often not embrace and implement the change successfully in the organization.

How to explain this misalignment? What are some underlying reasons?

There are myriad reasons why 70% of all organizational change efforts fail, among them:

THE LACK OF SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE

Organization is a complex system itself with number of interrelated elements within it. Managing organizational change complexity requires system perspective and thinking. And with that, conversations and collaboration among multiple stakeholders.

LEADERSHIP DO NOT EMBRACE CHANGE

Change challenges the way the leaders operate, their perspective and attitude. Many leaders perceive a change through the lens of fear and uncertainty. They are not willing to adapt or doing things differently. Often, they do not have enough experience or skills of leading change. Other reasons are external ones, not agreeing with the change or not having enough time and resources.

And the truth is, we don’t adequately train our leaders to become competent change leaders.

TOP-DOWN CHANGE STRATEGY

For decades, businesses have managed change rather than leading it. More than 80% of organizations manage change from the top down. The Gartner research found that this approach diminishes employees’ understanding of change and increases employee anger, anxiety and resistance toward the change.

THE LACK OF TRUST AND RESISTANCE TO CHANGE AMONG EMPLOYEES

Resistance to change is a common human tendency. Bringing change to the organization involves changing behaviors and beliefs on the individual level. After years of continuous disruptions, employees are losing their willingness to cooperate with change. 45% of HR leaders say their employees are fatigued from all the change (Gartner, 2022).

So, what’s to be done? 

GETTING PERSONAL ABOUT THE CHANGE FIRST. INVEST IN YOUR PEOPLE TO DEVELOP CHANGE SKILLS.

We, humans have “anti-change wiring,” yet in today’s fast-paced world we have to deal with change and create a change, as individuals and in organizations.  By re-wiring ourselves to become a change shaper for ourselves first, we are better suited to shape a change in the organization. Everyone has a potential to become a change shaper, this is a quality and a skill.

Do your people have change skills? Invest in your people to develop change skills on a personal level. Having more people with change mindset and skills means advantage and organizational readiness for change.  These become your champions of change.

BUILD INTERNAL COALITION OF CHANGE SHAPERS

Change leadership for organizational change require strong internal support, the coalition of change shapers. An internal coalition of change shapers refers to a group of people within an organization that have adapted change mindset and skills on a personal level. They are open and willing to shape change on the organizational level. These individuals can be found in different departments, levels, and backgrounds within the organization.

UPSKILL CHANGE LEADERS: CHANGE LEADERSHIP IS A QUALITY AND A COMPETENCY. AND IT REQUIRES SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE.

Organizational change is inseparable from individual change. Changemaking leadership requires self-awareness of attitude and inner drive toward change. And then, skills and competencies that ignites the changemaker potential of others and unlocks collective power. It is about the process, leadership and measuring outcomes. 

Good organizational change requires a systems-thinking mindset and an interdisciplinary, holistic approach to tackling complex organizational challenges. Successful changemaking leaders are systems thinkers. They understand the importance of engaging a diverse stakeholders early on in the process to ensure their support and participation.

ANCHOR THE CHANGE CULTURE FOR ORGANIZATIONAL EVOLUTION.

Organizational evolution is the process of accumulating change for the long-term success. Leading organizational evolution is similar to running a marathon! As change is the new constant in the business world, the ability to react effectively and adapt has become significantly important. And ingraining change mindset into the culture and nurturing it, is key to sustain organizational change readiness long term. Lasting organizational change ability is only as good as how deeply rooted it is in the culture.

Instead of conclusion:

Leaders often focus more on the system changes than the people that have to make and live with them. Don’t forget that while you need to have systems in place, it’s the people who matter most. “Sustained change is always driven by people,” says Lee Colan.

In our experience, employees will more willingly adapt to organizational change when they have a seat in the room where the changes are being planned.