Change management means planning changes in an organisation and implementing them in a structured process. Selected measures are defined in order to transform departments, or the entire organisation, from a starting state to a defined target state. And that is particularly important in digitalisation. Many companies have digitalisation projects in their sights. But they can introduce the best systems available: if employees are not involved in the change processes early, and acceptance for the planned transformation is not encouraged from the start, the system will not work in everyday practice.
Change management should not be confused with just any change. It is not about altering individual processes, which would not be change in this sense. Change management is about fundamental transformation. In the course of digital transformation that takes place in the areas of technology, processes, organisation and culture. When such an elementary change is coming, employees typically react with a defensive attitude, may fear losing their jobs or are not convinced by the digitalisation strategy. Many thoughts and questions come up in this context: is my work still important? Will I cope with the new workflows? Will digitalisation change my status? To reduce scepticism, a sense of being overwhelmed or outright rejection, it is important to take people along from the very beginning.
Implementing change management successfully
The basis is systematic planning, implementation and steering, together with a particular way of communicating the changes, to make sure the new ways of working are accepted step by step and are effective.
Successful change management includes ...
... a clear objective: company leadership should develop a long term digitalisation strategy and name the vision clearly.
... transparent communication: employees should be informed clearly about the goals, the benefits and the progress of digitalisation. What counts here is dialogue, not monologue. Good communicative involvement is needed to create consensus and to enable a permanent exchange.
... a high degree of adaptability: digital transformation is an iterative process that is adjusted and improved regularly. It is important that the company stays flexible, so that changes in technology, market conditions and customer requirements can be reflected quickly and easily in the digitalised processes.
How the right communication drives successful change management
For this, a change process and a communication plan are drawn up: the challenges, risks and communication groups are identified, as are the readiness for change and the resistance to it. Which employee receives which information? What can, want and should employees contribute? Where is resistance particularly strong? The communication groups have different levels of prior knowledge and readiness for change, and the communication is adapted accordingly. How far the differentiation in the communication strategy goes depends on the individual factors of the project. To raise acceptance for the transformation, it is important, alongside understandable, trustworthy and clear communication, to make the added value visible. Routine activities are automated, for instance, which frees up time for employees to take on more interesting tasks. When developing a communication plan, strategies are worked out to reduce resistance in the team, for example through instruction and training.
Digital transformation processes should always be implemented with change management. It is a decisive success factor for digitalisation in the mid market. THE MAK'ED TEAM accompanies companies through their digital transformation. We create communication concepts that involve employees actively in the change processes, motivate them and at the same time help them develop the digital skills they need. After implementation we measure the successes and the progress of the digital measures. THE MAK'ED TEAM makes sure that our mid sized clients benefit from the effective implementation of change management in digitalisation. With our interdisciplinary team and our iterative approach we enable a smooth introduction of new technologies, improved process efficiency, higher customer satisfaction and stronger competitiveness.
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