synkd | raise the bar process your change team has laid out. Then, you must identify some easily achievable steps in the early stages of the change process, make them “milestones” for the team and celebrate those wins. Doing this will keep enthusiasm for the change process high. As you get the first few “wins” under your belt, you can make the milestones a bit harder to reach, but always remember to recognize the efforts of the change team and the company at large as you’re implementing these changes.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT PART 3
FINISHING STRONG I
By Jay Worth, Marketing Manager for Single Ops
n my previous articles, I shared a definition of “change management” and helped you with the first steps you need to take to successfully implement change in your company. For a refresher, see the Summer and Fall 2023 issues of SYNKD. Today, we’ll be wrapping up how to manage change successfully in your organization. As a reminder, I’ve adapted the principles of John Kotter in this Harvard Business Review article for the green industry.
Step #5: Empower Others to Act No matter how persuasive and charismatic you are as a leader, you will not connect with everyone. You need help from others in your organization to implement lasting changes. In my last post, I talked about assembling a “change team” that will research the
56 SYNKD South Winter 2023/24
problem and present solutions. In this current step, you need to empower them to act on the solution they developed. The rest of the company should already be aware of this. They should know the issue you’re trying to solve, understand that the team is working on it and that this same team will put forth the solution. Then you’ve got to let them do it. If it’s selecting software to run the business, rearranging the organizational chart, firing certain customers or creating additional positions within the company, make sure they’re empowered to act (i.e. the rest of the company know that you, the senior leader, aren’t going to swoop in and change things) and that they will put the solution in place.
Step #6: Engineer & Celebrate Wins This step is about ensuring you keep momentum. You have to look at the
An “attaboy” never hurt anyone. People like to be recognized for their hard work. This step is simply being intentional about it from a macro level as the leader. Throw a party, hand out bonuses, give additional PTO, whatever you need to do to motivate your team in these early stages, do it.
Step #7: Streamline Changes & Look for Additional Improvements Now that you’ve built excitement for the change, you need to continue that momentum. You’ll only have a very small window of time where people are motivated to keep making changes. In this step, you’re looking for the optimal level of efficiency. Does the software you selected have a feature your team hasn’t yet identified and incorporated into the workflow? Would adding an intermediate layer of management increase the speed of decision-making in the restructuring? Looking for these types of tweaks to the new solution is going to pay off now, while people are still in a “change mindset” versus when they’ve completely internalized the new process. One note of caution here: Don’t try to “tweak” this to death. You can exasperate your team, and it will have the opposite effect you’re going for here. Look for easily implemented adjustments that make a significant impact on the process.
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