Harvard ManageMentor In Brief on Change Management 

You can actively prepare for change and embrace the opportunities it provides. Or you can

passively resist change as long as possible — like an ostrich with its head in the sand. But the

longer you resist change, the fewer options you will have — and the greater the cost to your

company.

Any business executive will agree that change is constant and inevitable — yet all too many

companies are ill prepared for change. In theory, we accept the idea. In practice, we are

threatened by it. Change can be chaotic and stressful, and we like the comfort of the status quo.

But change also offers an opportunity — and organizations that handle change well can leap

ahead of their competition.

To be ready for change, you need a culture that welcomes, rather than resists, change. A

change-ready organization is nimble; it anticipates shifts in the marketplace. Whatever the

event — from a factory shutdown to implementing a new corporate strategy — a change-ready

organization is light on its toes and ready to move.

How would you respond if your CEO told you that your group had to make a critical change in

how it does business, and you had one week to figure out a solution? You couldn’t come up with

a solution on your own — nor would you want to. You would need to collaborate with your

employees, your boss, and your peers. You would need people in your group to be able to make

sound decisions on their own. And to move rapidly, you would need the processes and

technologies already in place for sharing information in real time and communicating clearly,

often across geographic and time zones.

Collaboration. Decentralized decision making. Information sharing. Clear communication

pathways. These are the signs of an organization prepared for change.

The test of a change-ready organization — and you, as a manager of change — is in how you

respond when the need for change occurs. Of the many change management strategies you

should consider, let’s look at three:

1.  Mobilizing energy and commitment 

2.  Creating short-term wins, and 

3.  Institutionalizing success 

First, mobilizing energy and commitment: Think about a time when change was necessary in

your organization. Your employees no doubt had many questions and, more than likely,

concerns. How did you respond? Responding to employee concerns provides you with an

opportunity to explain the need for change and to gain buy-in. Change initiatives occur in

response to a serious business problem, or set of problems. By carefully identifying the problem

at hand, you can create a sense of urgency and motivate your employees.

 

As your employees gradually understand the urgency of the problem, they will likely begin to

focus on what needs to be done. You want to harness and mobilize their energy. Help your

group begin to interpret the business problem in terms of their own work and then to identify

potential approaches and solutions. You win on every front by involving your team in the early

stages of a change effort. This strategy fosters commitment on their part and a shared vision of 

what needs to be done.

The second strategy is creating short-term wins. If you and your group are facing a long period

of sustained change, you want to focus your team’s attention on short-term results and wins.

Generating short-term wins helps people feel that their hard work and sacrifices have a purpose

and are gradually making a difference.

Say you have a three-year change initiative. That could be a daunting prospect for your group.

The end goal is so distant that their sense of urgency could gradually dissipate. By setting

interim goals — say, for every six months or for each year — you focus the group on a

succession of short-term wins. Be sure you pick meaningful achievements and assign metrics to

these goals. For example: “Within the next 12 months we will reduce fuel costs by 15 percent.”

Metrics allow you — and everyone else — to know when you have achieved a goal.

With your group, monitor ongoing performance against the metrics. You want your group to

know the instant they hit a goal. Then stop and take time to celebrate! Be vocal and visible!

Recognize their hard work and do something special.

Every short-term win is also an occasion for reflection. What went right? What could have been

done better, and why? The more you learn along the way, the better prepared you are to

address the next milestone — and create another short-term win.

Once you’ve had a success, it is time to implement the third strategy: institutionalizing success.

Institutionalizing a success means you capture your hard-won knowledge and weave it into

improved processes, updated information systems, or new reporting structures that describe

how work should be done going forward. For example, through digital connectivity and new

supply-chain partners, a group successfully meets a short-term goal of reducing a process time

line — from order-taking to delivery — from seven weeks to less than two. Once the group

reaches its goal, it institutionalizes its gains through a performance measurement system that

keeps everyone’s focus on the new metrics. Some successes, such as a new set of standards, can

be implemented across an organization in many areas of the business — truly institutionalizing

success.

Is change stressful? Can it feel threatening? Absolutely. However, if you mobilize your team’s

commitment and energy, take the time to generate short-term wins, and institutionalize your

successes, you can transform the perceived threat into an opportunity to excel.

For a more in-depth look at leading people through change, see the Harvard ManageMentor

topic Change Management.