IT Change Management Best Practices | SkillSource Learning Partners
IT change management best practices are important for improving a company’s performance. Changes in a company’s information technology infrastructure...
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In the business world today, change is not only inevitable but happens much quicker than has ever been possible. Technological advancements and the rise of globalization have forced companies to continuously adapt to new trends in order to stay relevant in their respective market. Change management consulting is a tool modern companies can use to ensure that major transitions in business operations happen as smoothly as possible. With change management consulting, organizations collaborate with consultants to apply a structured approach to these transitions.
What is the Change Management Consulting Process?
The specific change management consulting process is going to vary depending on the business it is being applied to; however, there are certain steps that are present in every change management journey. The process will also change depending on the scale of the company undergoing change management and based on how ambitious their transitional goals are.
1. Outline a Vision
Before any sort of change can be implemented, a company must first decide upon its end goals. Speak with your change management consultant about the desired outcome of this process. Define final objectives that give the firm and the consultant a direction to work in. Decide on how major these transitions will be and how quickly they need to be implemented. Remember, these goals should be ambitious, but attainable.
Creating goals that are SMART is a common method of settling on objectives that are meaningful, yet practical. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. If all of these descriptors can be applied to your end goals, then they are likely good aspirations to work towards.
2. Draft a Plan of Action
After you have decided on the desired results of your change management process, it is time to begin thinking of ways to meet these goals. Senior leadership should collaborate with a change management consultant to develop a plan of action.
First, perform a change readiness assessment to determine your company’s ability to change, and run risk analysis to identify any obstacles to these changes. The change readiness assessment and risk analysis can be used together to inform decisions in the plan-making process. After a plan has been made, decide on the key performance indicators that will be used to measure the effects of the plan.
3. Prepare the Organization
The final step of the process before implementing the changes a business has decided upon is to prepare the organization for change. Managers should focus their attention on detailing why these changes are necessary to workers. Every employee at every level of the company needs to understand the challenges facing the company and how these transitions will help the company tackle these issues. This is an absolutely crucial step in the change management process because it is important for everyone to be on the same page. Otherwise, friction and misunderstandings could get in the way of the desired outcomes.
4. Implement the Changes
Now you have the goals, you have the plan, and the organization is prepared for a transitionary phase. Finally, the time has come to implement the decided-upon changes. Begin initiating the steps you set out in the change management plan. At this point, change managers should do their best to anticipate obstacles and remove them as quickly as possible. Repeat the necessity of the change and communicate the company’s vision throughout the implementation process.
5. Analyze the Results
After the change management consulting process is complete, it is time to measure how effective it was in reaching the goals stated in your plan. Use the key performance indicators that were chosen in the planning phase to determine if the change was successful. Even if the change didn’t meet all of your expectations, a good end-of-process analysis can inform future change management endeavors and ensure that the next change is executed well.
SkillSource change management consultants are experts. Contact SkillSource today to learn how our consultants can help your business achieve key performance goals.
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