Understanding and Coping With Change

Understanding and Coping With Change

Introduction

Change is inevitable and many individuals find it challenging when faced with changes. Due to technology advancements, globalization, project-based working, increased competition, and pressure to remain competitive, changes occur frequently in corporations. Irrespective of how easy or complex a change may seem, most people feel uneasy and challenged, thus finding it hard to embrace the change. In other cases, those driving changes find themselves at a point where they know what need to be changed but lack the know-how to deliver that change. Managers must create trust with their employees to boost their productivity and help them adhere to the change (Hinojosa, 2020). John Kotter’s model is instrumental in such a situation as the 8-step technique has been used widely to promote organizational change.

Change Resistance

During my friend’s tenure as a sales executive at a national company, the organization she was working for decided to diversify into a new consumer market. Market projectons on how the new market was likely to respond had not been promising, however, the company still believed the Northern region was attractive in increasing their consumer base. My friend was selected to join the team that would serve the new region as the salesperson in charge. The new region was in a remote area and market projections showed that there would be low conversion of potential consumers. She, therefore, felt disadvantaged despite having performed so well in her current region. Her intuition made her believe that the new manager was biased towards her and suspected that her female gender may have sparked the discrimination. She developed a lack of trust in the firm’s executive since she thought that the senior management had an intent of jeorpadizing her career ambitions. The mistrust grew and turned into hatred which made her regret having worked for the company. According to Span (2020), the lack trust occurs to many employees when they feel that the seniors are frustrating their efforts. She resisted the decision and wrote a letter to the human resources department to object and repeal the placement although the decision had already been effected.

Cause of Resistance

The resistance to change was caused by internal factors. My friend had been working hard so that she could earn additional commission and secure a promotion to a managerial position. However, she was now being placed in a region that would minimize the number of sales she would get while the person taking her previous region would enjoy a market that had already been well developed. Although the company was diversifying into a new region due to potential investment opportunities to increase its pool of customers and sources of income, she felt that it was unfair for her to be designated the new region. The human resource manager should have been more transparent in the selection and placement process and ought to have consulted the employees prior to making the final decision.

Application of John Kotter’s Model

Step 1: E stablish a sense of urgency

This step entails identifying opportunities, potential threats, initiating dialogues, convincing employees, and engaging in discussions to let employees know the urgency of the change (Tanner, 2020). Regarding my friend’s case, a meeting should be held in the sales company led by the human resource manager or the vice president in charge of sales. During the meeting, the sales department staff should be informed about the company’s need to invest in the new market to avoid other competitors from joining and enjoying the first-entrant benefits. The managers should also inform the sales staff how the company has been experiencing financial difficulties that may even necessitate laying off some employees. However, if the new region can be converted sufficiently, the company would overcome its financial difficulties and no employee would lose their job. It is therefore necessary for workers placed in the new region to do their best to prevent a potential company’s collapse by bringing new clients and increasing conversion. This meeting would ensure that my friend and her fellow workmates realize the urgency to embrace and engage in the new roles to ensure they help the company run seamlessly.

Step 2: Create a guiding coalition

This step entails identification of leaders to oversee the change, promotion of teamwork, involving major stakeholders and strategizing on how to overcome weak areas. After ensuring that my friend and her fellow employees understand the urgency of the change, the management in charge should ensure that some members are selected to oversee the guiding coalition. Due to my friend’s previous record and success in converting leads to clients, she should be considered for a leadership role that will help her be active in assisting the management through the change. Other accomplished leaders from other departments should also be included and involved in the process to ensure that the entire process is handled competitively. Due to the earlier projections which had shown that the new region would have fewer conversations compared to other regions, a powerful team from the marketing department should be included to ensure that the products are well promoted and marketed as a way of increasing leads.

Step 3: Develop a vision and strategy

The third step involves defining core values, communicating them to the employees, creating awareness about the ultimate vision and coming up with strategies on how to go through the changes. The company must come up with specific objectives and strategies to help meet the new change. The core values should be determined and incorporated into the objectives. This will help increase the understanding of employees regarding the new change and learn how to adhere to it. While my friend may have been reluctant at first, learning more about the objectives and ultimate vision of the new change is likely to change how she perceives it and may likely persuade her to change her attitude. To ensure that this is achieved and all the employees are satisfied, the management must communicate to them on how the new change will benefit them (Juneja, 2020) . In this case, the management should explain how the new region will keep the company running, overcome the financial problems, prevent laying off some workers and create opportunities for some employees to be promoted for the new positions that will be created.

Step 4: Communicate the change vision

The fourth step involves convincing the employees though effective communication. As Tanner (2020) explained, the change’s vision is then promoted through various strategies such as reviews, trainings and effective handling of concerns. The change should be communicated in a manner that is powerful and convincing to ensure employees are not left in the dark (Davis, 2020). The employees should be made aware of all the added benefits they will gain and how this will help their careers and positions in the company. The employees should also be given a chance to express their concerns, such as my friend who felt discriminated. Such issues should be addressed immediately and honestly to ensure that employees understand each process. The management should utilize the connections and coalitions it has built up within the organization to influence the employees and ensure they relate with the new vision. The communication should be clear and comprehensive leaving no room for wrongful interpretations.

Step 5: Empower broad-based action

This step entails aligning the change-related processes to the organization’s proposition. Barriers are identified and mitigated while rewarding is embraced to endorse change. When undertaking the change, it is important to forecast potential failures to increase chances of success (Juneja, 2020). The management should seek to understand all the barriers that are likely impede the change implementation and address them accordingly. For instance, some employees like my friend who are resisting the change should be approached and involved in the change process to align their thoughts with the change’s vision. Endorsements should be rewarded to those who adopt the change competitively and help make the new processes easier. This would inspire other employees to adopt and support the change leading to higher chances of success.

Step 6: Generate short-term wins

The sixth step involves creating short wins to encourage the change process. These are easier to achieve and gives a sense of victory. Those who make significant contribution are rewarded to exhort hard work. Victory bolsters worker’s morale and motivates them to work harder. Short term victories should be created to motivate the employees and prove to them that long-term goals are achievable. Those who contribute towards these small wins should be rewarded to motivate them to work harder and influence others to improve their performance (Span, 2020). The short term wins will help the management create and refine their direction and approach in the change process as it shows them what is working and what is not. It further makes the employees feel that their efforts are not futile but are making recognizable changes in the new region.

Step 7: Consolidate gains to produce more change

This step involves consolidation of small wins. All the gains are analyzed to obtain a framework for additional gains. After each milestone, more targets are set to attain continuous achievement. As the company starts making achievements from the new region, more improvements should continue being encouraged to ensure the business does not collapse. The individual experiences of the employees and their managers should be taken into consideration and used to adopt new improvements (Juneja, 2020) . When a certain target has been achieved, a new goal should be set to ensure that employees work even harder. After each small win has been achieved, an analysis should be conducted to establish areas that can be improved to stabilize the market in the new region.

Step 8: Anchor change in the organizational culture.

The last step entails integrating the change with the organizational culture. Stakeholders are encouraged to support the change and success stories are used to promote more opportunities. The changes and achievement of success stories in the new region should be shared in the entire organization. They should be adopted into the company’s culture. Leaders should be informed about the change and how it has contributed to the company’s prosperity (Span, 2020). Senior stakeholders, board members, and other employees should be encouraged to celebrate the individuals who undertook the change in the new region and inspire them to be ready for such changes in future. The importance of the new change should become a core part of the organization culture to create a lasting effect.

Conclusion

Embracing change in an organization is a significant challenge but can be eased by utilizing John Kotter’s 8-step model. The model helps the management to thoroughly plan and implement the change in a manner is effective and acceptable by the employees. It provides managers with a clear description of what to do in each step and overcome resistance. The effectiveness of the plan can be evaluated by measuring the level of success in the change. For instance, the company can measure how the performance in the new market compares to the initial projections. If the new team successfully taps into the new market and remains dedicated to the set objectives, with a high level of productivity and low absenteeism, then it implies that the plan worked as intended.

References

Davis, N. (2020).  5 Reasons Why 57% of Employees Don't Trust Their Leaders - Careers in Government . Careers in Government. Retrieved 21 March 2020, from https://careersingovernment.com/tools/gov-talk/career-advice/on-the-job/5-reasons-57-employees-dont-trust-leaders/.

Hinojosa, P. (2020).  4 mistakes managers make that can destroy trust - Insperity . Insperity. Retrieved 21 March 2020, from https://www.insperity.com/blog/lack-of-trust-in-leadership/.

Juneja, P. (2020).  Kotter's 8 step Model of Change . Managementstudyguide.com. Retrieved 21 March 2020, from https://www.managementstudyguide.com/kotters-8-step-model-of-change.htm.

Span, S. (2020).  Lack of Trust in Leadership Biggest Issue Impacting Performance - How do you Fix the Problem? | Tolero Solutions . Tolero Solutions. Retrieved 21 March 2020, from https://tolerosolutions.com/employees-lack-trust-in-leadership-biggest-issue-impacting-performance/ .

Tanner, R. (2020).  Kotter’s Eight Step Leading Change Model . Management is a Journey®. Retrieved 22 March 2020, from https://managementisajourney.com/summary-of-kotters-eight-step-leading-change-model/.