Companies must embrace change to stay ahead of new technological and economic developments.
To succeed, though, employees must also buy in. According to research and advisory company Gartner, however, organizations are battling "change fatigue." In 2016, 74 percent of employees said they supported organizational change. Six years later—after navigating continuous disruption from digital transformation—that number dropped to 38 percent, making it even more crucial for change to be prioritized properly and managed effectively.
Organizational change is typically pursued because it’s believed the transition will enable a business to operate at a higher level, becoming more efficient, productive, innovative, and profitable.
If handled incorrectly, it can become a double-edged sword, leading to decreased productivity and employee performance.
Managers and leaders must understand their role in managing change. Here’s a look at the different types of organizational change and tips you can use to implement an effective change management process.
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DOWNLOAD NOWWhat is Organizational Change?
Organizational change is the process by which a business alters key components of its strategy or operations. This may involve changes to company culture, essential technologies, organizational structure, or major initiatives and goals. Depending on the objectives you're trying to achieve, organizational change may be either continuous or intermittent.
Organizational change is typically categorized into two types: adaptive and transformational change.
- Adaptive changes: These are small, incremental modifications an organization undertakes to evolve over time. They can be thought of as the fine-tuning of processes and business strategies.
- Transformational changes: These are larger in scope and scale and typically involve a radical shift in direction for the business. These changes are often the result of outside forces putting pressure on the company, such as the emergence of a new competitor.
Below are five tips and strategies to better manage change within your workplace.
Tips for Managing Organizational Change
1. Understand the Process of Change
No two change management initiatives are the same. However, the vast majority of successful ones follow the change management process steps.
All change processes have a set of starting conditions (Point A) and an endpoint (Point B). The change process is everything that happens between those two points. It involves multiple steps typically grouped into three stages: preparation, implementation, and follow-through. Here's what happens during each phase:
- Preparation: The change manager is focused on preparing the organization and its employees. This involves helping the employees understand the need for the impending transition and outlining the vision and plan for achieving it.
- Implementation: The change manager is focused on executing changes in a way compatible with the company’s vision for the future.
- Follow-through: The change manager is focused on ensuring the change sticks and becomes embedded in the company’s culture and practices.
2. Understand the Forces of Change
To effectively manage change, managers must first grasp why it’s necessary. Without doing so, it can be difficult for you to craft a plan that addresses root causes and pressing questions, such as:
- What pressures are driving change?
- Are they internal pressures, such as new leadership?
- Are they external pressures, such as the development of new technologies, a shift in your industry, or the emergence of a new competitor?
By understanding the precipitating factors that have made an organizational change necessary, you’ll be better suited to address those concerns.
3. Create a Plan
Once the motive for change is understood, you must create a plan.
This plan should broadly outline the reasons for change, define its scope, outline key stakeholders, establish a team, and provide a detailed roadmap of the steps required to complete the project. A defined strategy makes it easier to communicate the change to your team members and monitor progress toward key milestones and goals.
4. Communicate
When it comes to guiding your business and employees through significant change, clear and effective communication is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. Ultimately, you must be capable of communicating change to two very distinct audiences.
The first consists of your employees and team members: These individuals need to understand the need for change and how it will impact their job responsibilities. You must also recognize the importance of listening to their concerns so you can assuage any fears they may have.
“Despite realizing that change is necessary, employees are often afraid of big changes in the organization, preferring the dissatisfaction of the status quo to the risks of a new reality,” says Harvard Business School Professor David Garvin in the online course Management Essentials. “Often, the most important thing a manager can do is not identify the need for change, but provoke the momentum to begin and maintain the change.”
The second audience includes key stakeholders within the company—other members of management, the C-suite, and board members. If you’re the person proposing a change, it’s these individuals who need to be convinced it’s necessary. If they've initiated the change but charged you with overseeing the process, it’s these individuals whom you must regularly update on the project's status.
5. Prepare for Roadblocks
No matter how thoroughly you prepare for change, everything won't always go according to plan. You need to be ready for several potential outcomes.
Ingrid Johnson, former managing director of business banking at Nedbank, is featured in the online course Leading Change and Organizational Renewal and notes, through firsthand experience, that leading change can be a moving target.
“Leadership is messy,” Johnson says in Leading Change and Organizational Renewal. "It’s never going to go to plan. We can write a textbook and say, ‘This is how it is, and next time, it’s going to be easier.’ It won’t be because the situation is different, the people are different, and the strategy that has to be executed will be different. So, what I realized as the leader was holding more true to who I am and recognizing that actually being an authentic leader is probably the most important, and then how do you build trust with others.”
By doing your best to be authentic and anticipate roadblocks, you can remove some mystery. Empower your employees to modify their behavior by removing the obstacles that prevent them from working toward change. Once those hindrances are identified, even the most complex problems can be addressed and corrected.
Learn How to Manage Change
Nobody is born with expertise in managing organizational change; it’s a skill that typically takes many years of hands-on experience to build. With this in mind, there are steps you can take to better prepare for the job.
In addition to embracing as many opportunities as possible to flex your change management muscles, pursuing professional development opportunities, such as an online course, can be an excellent way to hone your skills and become a better manager.
When evaluating programs, seek those that align with your personal and professional goals. For example, if you're interested in developing your management skills, consider a course like Management Essentials, which delves into four managerial processes, including change management. Or elevate your leadership skills through Leading Change and Organizational Renewal, an online course that equips you with the tools to guide your organization through successful long-term transformation while still executing short-term success.
Ready to improve your leadership and management skills? Explore Management Essentials and Leading Change and Organizational Renewal. Not sure which course is right for you? Download our free leadership and management flowchart to determine which to take first.
This post was updated on January 6, 2025. It was originally published on January 23, 2020.
