Change Management (Download)

Managing change is difficult in any business environment, let alone the current era of increasing economic uncertainty, relentless competitive pressure, and chaotic market dynamics.  Yet constant adaptation is required to remain viable.  Priorities and strategies  shift, often dramatically, as an organization embarks on a new stage of growth, enters a new market, faces an evolving competitive landscape, goes public, receives an infusion of capital, is acquired or merged with another company or wants to change the very nature by which it operates. 

Unfortunately, over 70% of all change efforts fail due to:

  • Lack of Leadership Commitment
  • Lack of a Compelling Business Case/Vision
  • Poor planning and project management
  • Insufficient communication


WJM’s Change Management Process realizes tangible results by providing practical processes and tools for managing change at an organizational level. Our structured approach effectively transitions groups/organizations through change.  WJM’s change management process includes techniques for:

  • Creating a change management strategy
  • Engaging senior managers as change leaders
  • Building awareness of the need for change
  • Highly effective communications
  • Developing skills to support the change
  • Helping employees move through the transition
  • Sustaining the change
     
 
The WJM Change Management Process

WJM Associates assists the organization’s senior executives in building the business case for change and establishing clear goals and objectives.  We review the overall methodology for the change program and define specific measurable outcomes.  We work with the senior executives to determine why the change is being proposed; internal and external factors leading to change; the consequences of not addressing the issues; the future state desired; and, measurable outcomes.
 

WJM recommends the creation of a change team, a dedicated group of influential leaders throughout the organization, to support and inspire the change effort.  WJM Associates works with the change team to determine stakeholder groups and establish a baseline of the organization’s readiness for change through surveys of employee groups.  This enables the team to build support  and provide a common language and visibility to the change goal.

 
 

WJM works with the change team to describe the future state, assess organizational systems, and identify gaps and prioritize actions.  We do so through a series of interviews with senior change agents to review and make recommendations on the organizational systems (i.e., culture, structure, processes, leadership, and people) to support the change effort.  This step often results in recommendations on new job descriptions, cultural norms, process changes such as IT, etc., and structure changes in terms of new roles and responsibilities to support the change effort.
 

The best change in the world has no value if it’s kept a big secret.  In order to involve as many people as possible, WJM recommends communicating the essentials, simply, to appeal and respond to your employees’ needs. WJM builds an integrated change plan and implements a robust communication and engagement.  
 

In order to engage healthy change, WJM recommends empowering employees by removing obstacles, enabling constructive feedback and support from leaders, and rewarding and recognizing progress and achievements.  WJM works with the change team to execute and track progress of the change plan to minimize employee resistance.  Tracking plans enable employees to know what has changed and understand how their behavior impacts the change.
 

If the organization’s people see progress against goals, they will support the change.  WJM works with the change team to set goals that are easy to achieve and then evaluates and communicates progress toward goals and objectives. Celebrating short term wins ensures commitment to the change. 
 

To make the progress resulting from change endure; the change must be reinforced.  WJM works with the change team to make recommendations to HR systems and processes to support the change.
 

WJM ensures changes are sustained by monitoring results through surveys and assessments.  We recommend monthly feedback sessions for key opinion leaders as well as employee surveys to gauge moral and commitment to change.