In broad terms, organizational change management is the process used to help people, in an organization, to let go of their current activities and behaviours, and adopt different behaviours, activities and interactions to enable a new work environment.
Change management helps people increase their capacity to adapt to change, but more importantly adopt the new behaviours needed to realize the benefit of the change. These practices focus on building true commitment to the change initiative by fully engaging the individuals involved.
To understand the environment where change management operates, it is helpful to understand the two distinct dimensions of organizational change:
1.The Change Event
The first dimension of change is the event itself – for example, the implementation of a new software system, the merger of two departments or the acquisition of a new line of business.
The change event is:
- Defined by a distinct beginning and end
2. The Transition through the White Space
The second dimension of change is the intangible white space between where the individuals in the organization are now and where the organization needs them to be in order for the change event to achieve its desired results. Every individual in the organization must make his or her own transition through the white space.
The transition or white space of change is:
- Context sensitive
- Undefined by a clear beginning and end
This dimension is often overlooked and/or misunderstood by leaders.
Organizations don’t change. People do.
While new processes, forward-thinking strategies and cutting edge hardware and system changes may be critical to your organization’s success, none of these alone can carry your business over the finish line. They need people – your people – to bring them to life and make them work for your business.
Facilitating the transition through the white space of change requires different approaches and a different perspective than managing the change event. In fact, just as the elements of the white space are intangible, so are many of the activities required for successful change management. In reality, organizational change management is less about managing the change event and more about smoothing individuals’ journeys through the white space.
To manage the white space of change, you need to understand:
- How people naturally respond to change, and
- How to work with that natural response to help every individual in the organization make the transition.
The purpose of applying change management processes or practices to any change is to help each person get to a point where they can see themselves living in their new work environment – doing new tasks, using new skills, or even sitting in a new seat. Once they can imagine themselves being successful in their new world, they can approach the change with less stress and anxiety.
The value of change management
Effectively facilitating your team’s transition will help your organization realize the value of the change much sooner, with less disruption, and virtually no resistance. As an added bonus, the effects of well-managed change are cumulative. Successfully managing one change builds both your organization’s and your team’s capacity for change. And that’s good for your business in the long term!
If you would like to learn more about how to navigate the white space of change in your organization, Turner Change Management can help. Contact us.
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