Change occurs when an organization shifts from one set of conditions to another. Managing organizational change is a tactical process. It should take place with minimal resistance from the team members. Though change can be of tremendous benefit to an organization, not everybody can be willing to conform. It is the responsibility of the leader to give directions on the change implementation strategies. Leadership is critical to driving change. Change can take different perspectives such as policies, strategy, procedures, structure, culture, and technology. They accomplish the change process; there would be the need to create the right team and guide them in the right direction.
In change leadership, it is necessary to set clear and realistic goals for the team. With the leadership experience, it is possible to get through different change scenarios to find out the most viable routes for effecting change (Gray, 2004). There is the need to assess the organizational design, which includes getting to know the knowledge, experiences, and skills that can be used to achieving the change. After understanding the organizational design, scalable decisions are made while taking the potential of the team into account.
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Another aspect of change management is preparing the team for change. A dynamic organization should be ready to welcome transformations with ease. The world continues to pose dynamic challenges in terms of technology, culture, and environment (Nohe & Michaelis, 2016). The team should believe in the benefits of change. There would be the need to explain the reason for the change. The team must be aware of the compulsion behind the reforms that the organization seeks to make. Leadership involves influencing action (McNulty, 2002). The leadership skills in the context should be geared towards ensuring that the team understands the change rationale and trusts in the process (Baesu & Bejinaru, 2014). It is the responsibility of the leader to create the climate for the process and engage the team members to reduce possible resistance. Through effective leadership skills, it would be necessary to identify the key change influencers. For example, there could be highly influential team members.
Building a plan is part of the team preparation process. The plan should state what the organization seeks to accomplish. Having convinced the team of the goals and objectives of the change, the plan outlines how to reach the target (Hornstein, 2015). The leadership defines the strategies that the organization intends to use to get to the objectives. The plan may also provide the timeline for accomplishing change. A comprehensive plan is divided into different stages; each stage has its deliverables. Team preparation involves engaging the team (Gray, 2004). A successful change is one where every member has ownership of the change process. The leaders should empower the team to make decisions. That would enable the team to acquire a collective driving force. The change system should allow the team members to give their feedback. The members should be able to give their concerns based on the progress of change. Preparation also involves the determination of training needs to equip members with skills to achieving change.
Leadership is about availing a comfortable environment for change. A leader should be at the forefront of creating the environment for welcoming new ideas into the organization. Building a team for change includes clarity of issues. It is the responsibility of the leader to ensure that the team is well-versed with the change plan. Through the clarity of issues, the team can plan effectively while considering what to achieve, how to achieve, and the timeline of making achievements (Baesu & Bejinaru, 2014). Clarity of issues reduces goal-blindness. In addition to the setting of directions, there is the need to define the metrics for monitoring progress. A change plan divided into stages has deliverables at every stage.
Building a strong team entails embracing a diversity of thought. Organizational change as a collective project should involve the contribution of each member (Nohe & Michaelis, 2016). While the leadership provides directions, the change process should be interactive to collaborate different ideas within the team. A process that incorporates the diversity of ideas enhances the discovery of knowledge (Hornstein, 2015). Allowing every team member to participate in the making of decisions is a source of motivation to the members as they feel responsible for the objectives of the project. Embracing the diversity of ideas instills that sense of ownership to make every member feel part of the change process. As a result, the strategy reduces resistance.
Another course of action is to establish a strong organizational ecosystem. The ecosystem involves all the factors within which the organization operates. An example is a finance. There must be enough resources to achieve a successful change. There should be other inputs such as an efficient management structure and supportive policies (Gray, 2004). Next, the team should create a competitive advantage. The team has categories each with deliverables. For example, every department has its function. The teams must create distinctions within their areas.
The project of change should include strategic and critical thinking. The team should take time to define its strategy and become accountable for every step of action. By observing the deliverables, the team members can counter-check if they are on the right track (McNulty, 2002). In case of non-conformance to the target, the team undertakes strategic recommendations to align to the change intentions. A good action plan provides the guidelines that the team follows to the endpoint. Lastly, the leader should identify change champions within every section of the team to facilitate the process of change.
References
Baesu, C., & Bejinaru, R. (2014). Leadership approaches regarding the organizational change. The USV annals of economics and public administration , 13 (2 (18)), 146-152.
Gray, J. (2004). Ch-ch-ch-changes. Canadian Business , 77(14/15), 93-94.
Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management , 33 (2), 291-298.
McNulty, E. (2002). Welcome aboard (but don't change a thing). Harvard Business Review , 80 (10), 32-5.
Nohe, C., & Michaelis, B. (2016). Team OCB, leader charisma, and organizational change: A multilevel study. The Leadership Quarterly , 27 (6), 883-895.
