8 steps for success change management

Change management is an extremely important topic, especially in the current scenario, when we talk about transformation and innovation in industry or any other organization. Faced with crises and threats, it becomes fundamental to have a plan to overcome the threat/crisis and adapt to a new reality. However, it is very common to see that many company are unprepared and do not know how to implement these changes and achieve success from new objectives. Therefore, John Kotter created the 8 steps for implementing effective change management within organizations, and in this article we will discuss these steps and understand, through examples, how you can apply these steps in your industry. These are the 8 steps: 1. Establishing a sense of urgency. Establishing a sense of urgency is not easy, as it doesn't happen in a one-off event; it's based on a process closely linked to the organization's leadership. In many cases, everyone knows what the problem is and the path to follow to solve it, but what is often lacking is the initiative of someone to drive this change. Whether the urgency stems from an external factor or not, we've noticed that the main obstacle to the process is often conformity—the belief that change isn't necessary because things are working well today. However, the current scenario isn't necessarily the same as tomorrow's, and since things don't happen overnight, understanding the need for change and modernization, along with the urgency of that change, is fundamental. An interesting point to note is that some company hire specialists to not only properly assess the real need for change but also to help create a sense of urgency. This ensures that the issue isn't solely internally recognized, as third parties are also observing and alerting us. 2. Creating a Coalition Once this sense of urgency is established, the second step is to create a team to drive these changes. The team's size can vary from a small group to one with over 30 people, depending on the company . Essentially, this involves both leadership and the sharing and dissemination of the idea that change is necessary. So, for example in an industry, it's no use for production to have an initiative if the other areas don't share this desire for change and are not committed to it. In this sense, what works very well is working with some matrix structures, where we have the functions on one axis, and other areas, such as operational excellence, working in a cross-functional way. This allows us to have a group of people more focused on spreading these changes across the various areas within the industry. 3. Defining a vision So, from the moment we have a sense of urgency established, as well as the coalition, that is, the group of people who will drive these changes, it's time to define a vision. This vision needs to be something simple, something that everyone can understand in a few minutes and get engaged in so that this change can be established. At this point, we see many company at times working too much on a project and goal focus, micromanaging, and becoming uncoordinated from the macro vision/objective and generating unpreparedness for these changes because they are focused on more specific points. So, at this stage it's important to break free from the established guidelines and observe the steps necessary to achieve the final objective. 4. Communicating the vision This step basically involves aiming to convey this information/vision to as many people as possible so that everyone is aware of the objective and can help promote this change. Some examples we've seen in our projects, which were crucial to their success mes are that those responsible for the project at the executive level were there at key moments to communicate why the project was starting, what action was being directed, and its importance to the sector/organization. This mes important when a project in one specific area also affects another area, making it necessary to establish this communication in a solid and very clear way so that there is good engagement and both areas understand the importance of the project to the whole. An interesting point to highlight is that communication is not based solely on speeches, lectures, and informational materials; it is also done through actions, by setting an example. 5. Removing obstacles The fifth step is to eliminate resistance. In this process, you will certainly encounter some resistance, some stemming from a lack of knowledge and others from conflicting objectives. As previously mentioned, our main point of attention is the comfort and inertia of leaving things as they are; after all, during the daily routine, we find a way and manage. The smoothest way to eliminate these barriers is through training and knowledge sharing. In other words, communication is the main tool for eliminating many barriers, although it often ends up not being sufficient, since these changes can cause significant impacts on adjacent areas, and therefore more meticulous work is needed to understand how to overcome them, and often direct support from leadership will be necessary. 6. Create short-term achievements This sixth step consists of creating a continuous plan of small achievements, and in this way we can maintain that urgency to change from the first step in small stages and continuously. That is, if there are several gains throughout the process, the team doesn't wait too long to see the result, and this reduces the likelihood of demotivation. Bringing this to the perspective of software implementation and new technologies in the industry, even though projects are large and need to follow more classic project management methodologies, the more we can incorporate concepts of agile methodologies and involve people from the impacted areas in testing and simulations, the better. 7. Consolidate achievements and pace of change The penultimate point is to consolidate the gains and maintain momentum. So, basically, the goal here is to ensure that the achievements we have had so far are not lost and are optimized over time. The crucial point here is to work with solid and well-controlled indicators, and continuously monitor them to understand that these actions are not part of a single project with a beginning, middle, and end; they are part of a continuous optimization process. Something quite clear in software implementation processes is that, after a while, in some cases the teams break up, or there is a change of focus, and this can generate demobilization, something we want to avoid. To prevent this, these teams need to see that the changes are continuous and the results come more in the medium and long term, and for this, motivation needs to remain stable and be self-reinforcing. 8. Incorporating change into the organizational culture The eighth point is precisely the idea of ​​incorporating this change into the organization's culture. So companies company to incorporate the notion that they need to be in constant change and updating within their organizational culture. This incorporation ranges from a work of lessons learned and communicating how these actions occurred, to the way these changes are being applied in the reality of the company . In addition, it is also important to reflect on succession issues, both for executives and for the areas that manage the projects, so that these changes and new mindset are transmitted in a natural and solid way so that there is no discontinuity. We see that change is established in the organizational culture when it no longer depends on one specific person. Watch the full content: [embed]https://youtu.be/9RWQToZd0Ds[/embed][noptin-form id=2822]