Change is the only constant. The adage may sound clichéd, but it is more valid now than ever before. With the mass adoption of disruptive technologies, the intermingling of cultures, and the constant innovation in business practices, the pace of change has become laser-fast.

Businesses must transition into a new process, technology, or workflow smoothly, with effective change management. Human beings are naturally averse to adopting new practices, and when you are trying to drive enterprise-wide adoption of change, the challenge becomes more difficult.

Many business executives report being dissatisfied with their organization’s response to change. Some of the reasons why businesses fail to transition smoothly into new practices and methods are:

Human Nature

Every change is accompanied by uncertainty and apprehension. Human beings have a natural tendency to avoid these painful emotions and prefer to stay with the status quo. The first challenge for managers is to get past the individual resistance barrier to change adoption.

Lack of Motivation

Many times managers are equally guilty of their hires not adopting the new processes. One of the common causes of employees’ reluctance to adopt change is that they do not find enough purpose. The manager must motivate the process of change and enlighten his recruits about the new technology or process benefits.

Improper Training:

The organization as a whole might not transition into the new practice despite the managers communicating the rationale to their employees. One reason for this could be that the employees have the intent but lack the competence to adopt new processes. It is vital to ensure that you provide high-quality training for employees to accept the change successfully.

Unclear Goals and Metrics

The change management process can fail midway if employees feel clueless about their progress and the end targets. Clear-cut and well-defined goals are crucial to the success of any project, but even more for change management projects.

You must clearly define the metrics of the exercise and inform your employees of the progress in a continuous feedback loop.

Now that we know about some of the barriers that prevent organization-wide adoption of positive change let us look at few robust models that provide a framework for a successful change management project.

ADKAR’s Change Management Model

ADKAR is an acronym for the five key metrics that this model proposes for any change management exercise. These include Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement.

If you can track the progress of your change management project along with these five characteristics, you can get an accurate assessment of the success of the exercise. Once you have accurate information, you can take timely corrective actions and modifications to improve the project outcomes.

The ADKAR model is suitable for driving those changes which focus more on processes. As it is a cognition-centered model, it relies on efficiency and execution for successful performance.

Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model

Kotter’s 8 Step Model also appeals to the stakeholder’s emotions by creating a sense of urgency about the change acceptance process. This model focuses on motivating and inspiring employees to be change leaders by providing them with a far-reaching vision and constant encouragement.

Kotter’s 8 Step Model adopts a mission-based approach to the change management project. This model can prove very successful as it empowers employees by equipping them with a larger purpose. If successful, this model can surprise managers with the astounding results that it brings.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE FOR CHANGE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

As with all business functions, the secret to successful change management lies in execution. You can take the help of modern software tools to implement your change policies effectively and efficiently.

Executing an organization-wide change initiative can become very tiring if performed only through human-based processes. Software tools can provide advanced training and tracking modules to ease the workload.

Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP) are software packages that help companies make it easier for employees and customers to adopt any new technologies installed. If you are trying to drive technological change across your enterprise, these tools are an excellent way to bring positive outcomes at a fraction of the cost.

Change is more ubiquitous than at any time in our history. Within a short span of half a century, our world has drastically transformed. Man has broken all barriers of space and time and is now freely wandering into new and untested vistas of progress.

Successful change management is the key to making these innovations commercially viable and valuable for humanity at large. Change management is both an art and a science, and its practitioners hold a central place in the modern business environment.