CHANGE IS CONSTANT. YOU CAN CONTROL HOW YOU MANAGE IT.
Written by Jessica Murray
Change is inevitable in all areas of life, including business. Certain changes you can control, and others you can’t. For example, you can control the new leader you choose to drive internal change. You don’t necessarily have a say in how markets shift, consumer preferences evolve or how technology advances.
While lacking total control can feel destabilizing, it’s important to recognize that you can influence how you and your team adapt to change. As a leader, that’s where you should focus your energy. Your effectiveness in this can also make a difference in how your business operates through significant disruption.
What is change management?
Often in the corporate world, you’ll hear this referred to as “change management.” Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams and organizations from their current state to a desired future state. The process involves preparing, managing and reinforcing changes within a company to achieve specific goals.
While corporate jargon can feel excessive and overcomplicated for small businesses and startups, the idea of being equipped to stay strong through change is relevant no matter the size or stage. Imagine you’re a one-person team making high-end custom chairs, and your key supplier suddenly goes out of business. If you’ve planned for disruptions like this you can pivot quickly with backup suppliers.
In other words, “change management” and contingency planning aren’t just reserved for large corporations. You can build best practices into a small business to better ensure adaptability when change comes knocking on your door.
How change management impacts business performance
Businesses typically need to adapt every two to five years, creating a natural rhythm of change.
Investing upfront in planning can lead to a range of positive benefits for your business in the short and long term.
Overall operations: Building frameworks for addressing change and disruption can help maintain daily business performance.
Risk Mitigation: When you plan for change, you have more time to think critically about navigating smooth transitions and building contingency plans to reduce bumps along the road.
Resilience: Businesses that build muscle around change management will strengthen their durability and be better positioned to handle future challenges.
Employee Satisfaction: When you show your team that you care about their experience, they’ll notice. Focusing on how change impacts your employees will build more trust, loyalty and increase morale.
Customer satisfaction: Changes in your business can impact your customers, too. You can reduce the effect on the customer experience with thoughtful planning.
Eight tactics for managing change
The benefits of preparing for change are clear. Don’t stress about planning for every possible scenario — that’s not realistic. What’s important is acknowledging change and committing to managing it.
Here are eight tips to guide you:
Communicate early: Communicate change to the right stakeholders early and often. The sooner you do, the more comfortable people will get with what’s coming, ask questions and prepare.
Be transparent: Explain the “why” behind the change and don’t mislead stakeholders. While you might not have all the details upfront, avoid sugarcoating.
Gain champions: Seek input from your team to gain support for the direction you’re steering the ship. You’ll gain champions who can help break down resistance from others.
Provide support: Give your people the tools they need to feel supported and able to succeed.
Set clear goals and expectations: Be specific about the intended outcomes, outline your expectations and establish metrics for success so everyone can visualize and contribute to performance.
Proactively address concerns: Acknowledge change is unsettling and that you’re all in this together. Address objections and provide appropriate reassurance.
Celebrate wins: Recognize milestones and celebrate accomplishments to show progress and keep morale high.
Remain flexible: Be open to feedback and be prepared to adjust plans when necessary. This can lead to better outcomes.
Now that you understand that you can’t control change but can control how you manage it, what action will you take to better position your business?