Managing change is one of the most important elements in your shift towards digital transformation. In fact, you could argue it is the most important element because if it goes wrong the whole project will fail. Not only that, but it could also be very costly and put you off your digital transition journey for the foreseeable future.
If you are a regular follower of the Unleashed blog, you will know we are passionate about removing manual processes from your business and using automation to improve productivity and reduce errors. Furthermore, if you do all this correctly then you will also increase profitability and improve your own employees and customers experience.
Top Tips for Managing Change
To help your plan your change management process, we have put together a list of our top tips to help the process.
- People – This will be one of your biggest hurdles and we suggest the best way to handle that is to keep them informed on what you are doing and why you are doing it.
- Top-down approach – Most ofter, you will get obstacles from senior management as they don’t have the time or cannot be bothered to change. You need their buy-in or you will struggle.
- Transparency – There is no more them and us if you want to manage change effectively. Everybody needs to be involved.
- Business Case – Please remember, you have employed people because they are good and knowledgable. Use this and show them the business case for change, you will find this works!
- Ownership – Nobody knows each process better than the person doing it. Use them, ask them questions, they will tell you the best way to do things. They will then become more engaged when you start.
- Communication – In my opinion, the most important. Let people know what you are doing, don’t keep them in the dark. If there are problems tell them, don’t hide it.
- Behaviour – With any change, you have to be aware of company behaviour within each given department and don’t step on any toes.
- Culture – Like behaviour, culture in any business is very important and try not to change things too much, unless that is the reason for the change!
- Unexpected – With any change, you have to expect the unexpected and have a contingency plan if and when things go wrong.
- Constant Communication- Yes I know I have mentioned it before, but it needs mentioning again as so important
Reluctance to Change
As you will gather now from our top tips, your biggest issue will be getting people on board. There will always be the old statement ‘We have always done it this way, and it works fine’ But as we all know the old ways are not always the best and by explaining that to your employees you should be able to win them over. Especially if you give them an opportunity to design and change their own process (under your guidance)
One major issue managing change may be identifying areas that need to change. This can be particularly difficult if you are the person who implemented the existing processes. As you will feel strongly that they are the best. But, one thing to remember, they were manual processes and were probably the best they can be. Automation changes all that and makes them more flexible.
At Unleashed we specialise in managing change and are here for you to help you to implement effective change within your business. For more details, contact Unleashed on 0333 240 0565 or via our website.
