Change Management
If you’ve ever seen well-thought-out decisions get derailed, you know that people often follow their hearts before they follow the plan.
This is why many change projects fail—usually because employees resist the change. To ensure your initiatives succeed, you need a structured change process that actively involves your employees rather than leaving them behind.
Are you dealing with challenges like these?
- Are your employees resisting change?
- Is there a lack of clear leadership and support?
- Are employees unmotivated, leading to lower-than-expected productivity?
Our valued clients
About change management
What is change management?
Change management is a structured approach to implementing significant changes within an organization, whether they involve processes, strategies, systems or behaviors.
The key to successful transformation
Harvard Professor John Kotter is one of the leading thinkers in the field of change management. His widely recognized model for managing change outlines eight crucial steps companies must take to ensure successful transformation:
- Create a sense of urgency
- Build a guiding coalition
- Develop a vision and strategy
- Communicate the vision
- Remove obstacles
- Secure quick wins and make them visible
- Keep pushing for more change
- Anchor the changes in company culture
Emotional reactions in change management
Guiding employees through a change process and allowing them to experience transformation for themselves requires understanding common emotional and psychological responses to significant changes.
Professor Richard K. Streich developed a seven-phase model that explains how employees usually react to workplace changes:
1. Shock
When a change is announced, employees often feel significant uncertainty and react with confusion or disbelief. In this state, they struggle to focus on the future due to the overwhelming uncertainty. This phase frequently leads to a temporary drop in productivity, especially when it becomes clear that old ways of doing things will no longer apply.
2. Denial
After the initial shock, employees may deny the need for change, clinging to familiar behaviors and structures. Fearing that their past achievements might be undervalued, they might resist the change process or even attempt to sabotage it. During this phase, open and proactive communication is crucial to address concerns and guide them through the transition.
3. Rational acceptance
As employees engage more with the transformation, they begin to realize that resisting the change is unproductive. While they may not yet fully embrace it, they start to see that some changes are necessary. At this stage, they might still try to navigate the change with minimal adjustments and quick fixes.
4. Emotional acceptance
Similar to the stages of grief, employees reach an emotional low, often referred to as the “valley of tears,” as they come to terms with the need for deep changes. This phase is marked by the painful recognition that familiar habits must be left behind. Most employees eventually “resign themselves to fate” and accept the changes emotionally, marking a turning point toward a more positive outlook in the change process.
5. Experimentation and learning
With a more positive attitude, employees start to engage more openly with the goals and tasks of the change process. They experiment with new approaches, which may include setbacks, but these offer valuable opportunities for learning and growth. How well the company handles these mistakes plays a crucial role in determining how quickly and effectively the organization can transform. The more positively a company deals with mistakes, the more effectively and quickly employees can learn.
6. Realization
As the learning phase concludes, employees begin to see the positive impact of the change process. They celebrate early successes, gaining new skills and confidence along the way.
7. Integration
The new behaviors and practices become routine, fully integrated into daily operations. Employees have successfully adapted, making this the ideal time to evaluate which tools were effective in the change process and identify areas for improvement in future changes.
Stay agile with change management
In today’s fast-paced, globalized market, a company’s ability to adapt is crucial for its future success. Whether driven by new technologies, societal shifts, emerging markets or changing customer needs, the key to thriving in this environment is recognizing these changes and aligning your company accordingly—a significant challenge for any management team.
Tools for successful change processes
Successful companies invest as much in shaping their company culture as they do in refining their strategies and processes. The key to success lies in integrating both the operational and cultural aspects of the transformation process.
We support you in this holistic development of your company culture.
Vision and strategy development
If you want your employees to perform at their best, you need to give them a clear sense of purpose. When employees understand the direction, purpose and value of their work, they are more likely to be fully engaged.