Change Management basics

According to the Mutaree study, only 4% of companies feel prepared for change. Therefore, it is not surprising that 70-80% of changes still consistently fail. One reason for the frequent failure of changes is the lack of willingness to change among employees and leaders.

Willingness to change describes people's attitude towards a specific change situation, which is influenced by their past experiences with change. Due to the numerous failures of changes, the willingness to change is often low.

The most crucial aspect of fostering willingness to change is communication. Providing regular information to employees about what will happen and when helps counter the uncertainty caused by the change. It is also important to create a space for questions, concerns, and potential issues and to take these seriously.

Furthermore, those affected should be involved in the development and implementation of the change so that they feel they can actively participate in the process. The self-confidence of employees and trust in the organization play a significant role here.

To maintain motivation throughout the change process and prevent frustration, quick wins should be achieved and celebrated. Additionally, the new behavior should be encouraged and supported to enable employees to embrace the change and establish the new ways. Otherwise, there is a risk of frustration and reduced willingness to change.

It can also be helpful to establish a culture of curiosity and perspective change within the company. Those who are curious tend to be more receptive to changes as they actively seek new experiences. Curiosity can be promoted in companies by providing resources for learning new things. At the same time, questioning the familiar should become part of everyday life.

Lastly, it is essential to avoid implementing too many changes simultaneously. This not only reduces willingness to change but also leads to change fatigue.

A high willingness to change is indispensable for the change process and requires continuous effort at all levels. The more positive experiences people have with changes, the stronger their willingness to change will grow.

One of the most crucial success factors for a change process is the involvement of employees. If they are not given the opportunity to shape some decisions, their willingness to change is often low. For example, adopting a vegetarian diet can be much more challenging if there is no chance to decide on alternative options. Therefore, a change initiative without participation, even with excellent planning, will not succeed. In companies, involving employees can be challenging because it requires finding a balance between giving them a say without relinquishing control or overwhelming them.

To achieve effective participation, a clear vision must be provided so that employees know where the process is headed. A significant goal of participation is to encourage employees to get involved and continuously engage them in the change. This requires clear communication. Employees want to know what is happening and how the change will affect them; only then can they actively participate and provide feedback on ideas and implementations. Once employees have all the relevant information, they assess whether they want to support the change and how important the goal and benefits are for them.

At this stage, employees' initial concerns may arise, and these should be taken seriously and addressed. Often, employees' concerns are valid and can prevent premature failure. If the benefits for employees seem significant enough, many of them will be willing to support and participate in the initiative. Employees also evaluate whether they have enough resources, skills, and abilities to support the initiative. Hence, it is essential for the company to provide the necessary resources and potentially develop employees further to drive the change forward. Ultimately, anchors of change should be established within the company, as many employees only become aware of the change when it becomes part of their everyday work life. Participation does not end in the daily routine; it should be continued through regular feedback and retrospectives.

With the right approach, employee participation can be achieved quickly, leading to strong positive effects for a change process.

During times of change, individuals must step out of their comfort zones, which can be uncomfortable and challenging for creatures of habit like us humans. Therefore, it's not surprising that change processes come with a myriad of emotions and are often seen as the driving force behind the change. For this reason, emotions must be given a special role in the change process.

In organizational change processes, emotional resistance often arises. This resistance is connected to fears that one might not cope with the change or even lose their job. At the beginning of a change, there is often shock, worry, and fear due to the uncertainty of facing something new and unpredictable. This is mostly perceived as a threat, with the focus on risks rather than opportunities. As a leader, it is crucial to take the fears and concerns of individuals seriously, engage in discussions with those affected, and present possible courses of action. After the initial shock, a defensive reaction follows. There is anger towards the new change. It is especially important to remain calm and patient during this phase, not devalue the past, and illustrate the pros and cons of the change. Subsequently, feelings of grief and disappointment arise as one must let go of the old.

In this phase, it may be beneficial to establish a ritual to bid farewell to the old while highlighting elements to be preserved and providing reassurance. Afterward, acceptance of the change occurs.

If the emotions of employees are not addressed during the change process, they will resort to other coping mechanisms. Often, this means that employees will simply endure, ignore, or deny the change process. However, it's not only employees who experience such emotions; many leaders also struggle with similar feelings during changes.

In change processes, there are not only negative emotions. Some individuals are positively inclined towards change and see it as an opportunity, showing curiosity about what lies ahead. These promoters should be encouraged, as they can actively support the change and demonstrate self-initiative.

Emotions are inevitably linked to a change process and require a specific response from leaders and the project team. They must perceive and respond appropriately to the emotions experienced by individual employees during the change process. It's not about the arguments presented but rather about the manner in which leaders respond. For instance, logical arguments are ineffective and can even be counterproductive in the face of fear.

For changes to be successful, continuous adjustments are necessary. By incorporating feedback loops with employees, their ideas and thoughts can be quickly integrated into the process. This helps employees feel valued in the project, and it highlights areas where further adaptations are needed. Moreover, to sustainably anchor the transformation within the company, feedback processes are essential.

There are various ways to gather feedback throughout the entire change process, and these should be periodically repeated. In all formats, it is useful to inquire about the psychological acceptance factors of the change. These may include employees' motivation regarding the change, their perceived sense of support, and the satisfaction of their needs during the change process. Feedback provides insight into how the change process is currently perceived and the level of willingness to embrace the change. It also fosters trust in the change initiative, which can positively impact satisfaction, motivation, and productivity.

One effective format for feedback is surveys. The complexity of the questionnaire can vary. Surveys offer the advantage of being cost-effective and reusable throughout the change process. However, in some companies, survey fatigue may be an issue, resulting in low response rates.

Another format suitable for feedback is dialogue sessions. In these sessions, employees can exchange ideas and solutions related to specific questions about the change. These inputs can then be considered in the change project. The advantages of this format lie in avoiding survey fatigue and allowing the change project team to ask follow-up questions. Furthermore, these sessions encourage discussions among individual employees and teams, enabling them to learn from each other's ideas and solutions to challenges.

These are just two ideas for designing feedback processes; there are many more possibilities. For instance, change agents could collect feedback, or pulse checks could be conducted. The formats do not have to be considered in isolation but can be combined in the change initiative.

It is crucial to involve the leaders in the feedback processes so that they can express their concerns and ideas as well. Conducting customized workshops for leaders might be beneficial. Additionally, it is important to continue the feedback processes during the monitoring phase after the implementation of the change. Communication plays a significant role in all formats, ensuring that each person knows when and how they can participate in the feedback formats, the purpose of these processes, and how the results will be utilized.

Feedback processes are an integral part of any change initiative and contribute to successful transformations. The suitable formats for each situation may differ significantly based on the employees, the company, and the objectives of the change initiative.

The significance of transparency often becomes painfully evident when it is lacking. Let's consider two examples from daily life:

• We learn about train or flight delays and then hear nothing for a long time.
• An agreed-upon appointment (with colleagues, suppliers, or contractors) is not kept, and we are not informed about it.

In such situations, we start filling in the missing information with our own mental scripts (assumptions, interpretations, allegations...). Depending on our own experiences and/or patterns, we might become increasingly outraged or feel validated in our belief that we can't rely on anyone.

How comforting would it be to receive a status update shortly after a delay: "We are experiencing technical issues, help is on the way, and we will provide you with further updates in half an hour."

Or how relieving it is when the contractor informs us that they won't make it on time, as they are currently tied up with something else, and it will likely be an hour later.

Although the initial disappointment remains, we feel informed and don't add to our emotional burden through our interpretations.

In Agile practices, "transparency" is an important (manifesto) rule for additional reasons. It ensures continuous clarity about:

• Task distribution within the team
• Project status - where and how we are in the process
• Emerging questions/problems
• Needs and requirements
• Insights/interim results

This reduces the risk of incorrect development/ direction or misguided assumptions, for example.

In projects, this guarantees that all involved parties constantly feel well-informed, and they can continuously contribute their perspectives, validations, or corrections to the development process.

As part of our education, we learned to seek confirmation and appreciation through (final) results. Thus, we prefer to "complete" the topics and make them unassailable. However, this approach prevents us from incorporating recognizable changes or corrections during the process. It hinders collective learning from the ongoing insights during the development process.

During short, regular information exchanges, there might not always be room for substantial developments. But precisely in these situations, it is helpful and reassuring for all involved parties to receive information about the ongoing process or the emerging questions/problems.

In development processes, when it came to informing the various stakeholders about the status quo, one common limiting statement was: "We don't have any 'new' information."

However, this statement is already "new" information for the stakeholders, preventing them from starting the mental scripts mentioned earlier. Therefore, this potential benefit is lost. Additionally, stakeholders might be able to offer alternative ways of handling the situation.

By the way, the lack of transparency is also becoming increasingly critical in political and societal contexts (such as lawmakers' additional incomes, involvement of lobbyists...) concerning issues of trust.

The numerous changes, such as hybrid working, have turned many things upside down in companies, ideally accompanied by a change process. However, it's not just companies that need to adapt to these changes; the entire change management process must also be adjusted.

Due to hybrid working, change consultants are less frequently on-site and thus not as deeply embedded in the system. This has the advantage that they may not become as quickly entwined with the system. However, it also has the disadvantage that the underlying structures of the company, which must be urgently addressed in the change process, may not be as easily understood.

Another challenge for change management in hybrid settings is the different needs that people have on-site versus remote.

It can happen that a change process works better for someone working from home than for those who are in the office more frequently.

For this reason, the needs of both groups/work styles must be recognized, considered, and responded to with different strategies. For example, individuals working from home may have more flexibility in their working hours and workload. This can help them integrate the change more smoothly into their workflow and potentially experience less stress.

Different approaches are needed for employee involvement in hybrid change. Employees should still be able to choose which days they work from home or in the office. Therefore, participation must offer both in-person and remote options, or events must be planned well in advance to allow remote workers to adjust and plan accordingly. This ensures that all employees are involved in the change process.

In change processes in hybrid contexts, communication plays an even more significant role. Communication must be clearer and more regular to ensure that all employees, both remote and on-site, are informed about the change process and can participate accordingly. This means that multiple communication channels (multichannels) must be used to reach all employees within the organization.

Therefore, it is essential to adapt change management in hybrid contexts as well, so that changes can continue to be effectively implemented, and organizational productivity can be maintained.