Best practices of change management

Change management is a universal need, because most companies are in a state of perpetual evolution.

Changes in the market or in technology drive these improvements, because they allow the business to keep on thriving.

But how can business owners ensure that these necessary transitions are as smooth as possible?

Implementing those changes within your team does not always go smoothly.
Inadequate new processes, poor communication and lack of transparency can all jeopardize a change management process.

So what does it take to get it right?

Your employees are the center of it all

As a leader or manager, you provide a vision and a direction for the company. As a result, your input on what should change is critical, because you have a high-level vision of processes and operations.

That being said, your team is also in a unique position to discover pain points and opportunities to improve, because they use the process on a daily basis. This makes their input equally as important.

The best possible solution is built by combining leadership vision with hands-on feedback from the team that will operate it daily.

The importance of communication

The first step involves communication, before thinking about changes and solutions.
Human nature is the most important factor in change management. This is why it is important to prepare your team for the upcoming changes.

You also need to make sure that all stakeholders are involved in the project from the start.

This will ensure two things

Everybody, at every level, understands why the process must evolve

Your team feels valued because they are being consulted

This will give your team a strong incentive to collaborate in the design of the new process.

Tips and recommendations

Kickstart the process with an announcement explaining the goals of the project.
For example, the process can evolve to comply with new regulations, or to improve efficiency as well as working conditions
Give an overview of the process evolution process. You can explain that there will be process mapping sessions within focus groups, training or reskilling sessions.
Include a rough timeline for the project, so that your team knows what is coming when.
Use this opportunity to suggest volunteering for focus groups.

Process mapping sessions

Process mapping sessions are focus groups meetings. They typically involve volunteers from your team, and an external person to lead and facilitate the meeting.

These sessions have several objectives

Firstly, get a good understanding of the current processes in place (official and unofficial)
Secondly, gathering first-hand experience data about how the process is actually being used, compared to the theory
Thirdly, getting a good understanding of the current pain points and team input on opportunities for improvement
And the bonus – it kick-starts your change management process early and helps your team feel included

Involve a third party

We highly recommend to set up these meetings in an open environment, and to let a neutral third-party lead them.
Your team might not feel comfortable to be 100% transparent with their boss, but they are more likely to open up to a third party.

This will ensure that you will get the most complete and honest feedback.

You might learn that the official process is routinely being bypassed, and more importantly, for what reason.
This is good, as might be the key to unlocking higher productivity levels.

Pro Tip: Set up an anonymous suggestions box!

Iterative Continuous Improvement

The results from process mapping sessions will provide the most comprehensive overview of what is currently going on and what you can do to improve it.
Our comprehensive process optimization & automation services help you simplify, rationalize and automate your processing with the help of powerful SAAS tools.

We follow these key principles

Simplify, rationalize and standardize everything you can.
Implement metrology from the start. Metrics will help you measure the performance of your new process & calculate your ROI.
Automate all repetitive, low value tasks

Focus on usability

It is equally important to focus on the usability and real-world performance of the new concepts.

Here are our top tips

Make it as easy to use as possible.
- Use modern login solutions such as SSO
- Focus on the user experience – the simpler, the better
- Create quick & easy tutorials
Put yourself in the shoes of your team.
- Maybe the process works great for you, from your desk
- How does it work for your team in their daily operations?
- What are the differences between their conditions and yours?
Try to use it as they would, and see if it works or not

We recommend doing this in an iterative way, with the help of the focus groups. This will ensure the new process is as adequate as possible.

Don’t forget to keep communicating on the progress!

Implementing your changes

Now that your solution is designed, it is time to make it happen.
Our team can help you with the implementation or your new, automated process. Take a look at our experience and get inspiration.

We design lean & efficient workflows relying on automation as much as possible.
This helps free up time for high added value tasks for your team.

Learn more about what we can do for you!

Training and communication

This last step is also one of the most important. It ensures the adoption and use of your new process.

Once your new process is ready for launch, make sure you implement your training and communication plan!