Companies must ensure staff at all levels have the necessary skills to maintain success, Wilder counsels. “Be clear on what skills will be needed to anticipate challenges or pitfalls and to create frontline champions for the change.” There is also a ‘mind shift’ that will need to occur, she says, and management must not only understand this behavioral change, but provide proper training. “Evaluate your reward structure and make sure it includes metrics for the new behaviors,” she notes.
Chan stresses that all employees are affected by any change, even if it is centered primarily on a particular task or department. “Organizations are like a car,” he says. “To run efficiently and smoothly down the road, the wheels have to be aligned.” He cites the example of companies that implement a new technology, such as ERP software. Even as the software itself is up and running, there may be a struggle in other areas such as policies, work processes, roles and responsibilities, or if interdepartmental interfaces are not updated simultaneously.
Studies have shown that productivity drops precipitously and accidents tend to rise during organizational change, due to employee anxiety about job status, whether they can adapt to the change, and other factors. “You need to ask, ‘How do I make sure people stay active and engaged in all this change?’” Chan says.
Carkoski says Four Seasons puts together a team dedicated to handling each org-anizational change, charged with figuring out the timeline and budget, managing all the necessary details, and preparing the staff. This leaves the rest of the company free to focus on daily business operations.
During Four Seasons’ recent ERP and transportation management system changes, the company created a project management team. The team included both subject matter experts from various departments within the company, as well as project management experts hired specifically for the change. The latter then stay on once the change is im-plemented to preserve the institutional knowledge base related to the new systems and processes.
While it typically pays to invest in training and potentially in additional labor, executives and consultants believe there is little correlation between the amount spent on managing change and the successful implementation of the change. “Capital is not a major determining factor of who wins or loses,” Kenfield says.
Carkoski stresses that it is essential to listen to the concerns of people throughout the organization. “They’ll tell you if you just stop talking and listen, and if you’re not defensive,” he observes. Once leaders really understand employee concerns, they can sculpt their change management messages to address pain points and move the organization forward toward acceptance.
