According to a famous saying, change is the only constant in this world. Everyone needs to be prepared for change at all times. Organisations are no exception to it. Different market forces often compel organisations to change or perish. Companies around the world find it a challenging task to adapt to change constantly. Hence, the importance of change management! Getting Help for Successful Change Management Over the years, certain change management best practices have been developed in the field of management. If an organisation is not able to handle a changing market scenario, there are companies that specialise in providing tailor-made solutions focused on effective change management. Any organisation can effectively utilise the strategies, recommendations and roadmaps offered by such companies to successfully manage change in their own organisation. Importance of Change Management Best Practices Good change management practices help companies to implement strategic imperatives and profitably solve im ...

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Every organisation across every industry is concerned with their ‘internal customers’ and performance. Employees are often identified as the internal customers of an organisation because, while they are not typically the target market, they do ‘buy into’ the processes and systems which drive performance. For your organisation to perform at its best, it is crucial that you have in place people strategies which are in line with your overall strategy. A disconnection between these two is what stands between where your organisation is, and where it needs to go. For instance, you may be in the process of restructuring departments and divisions, attempting to standardise processes with new technologies, or expanding globally through acquisition or internal growth. Any of these changes have the power to bring about a misalignment between your people and your organisational strategies. This is why it is important that your change management be handled with the utmost care and understanding. ...

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In order to be successful in today’s fast-changing economic climate, organisations need to build upon change management competency. The fact is that business results are achieved when employees and management are well-equipped to handle future changes. It is therefore important that your business becomes adept at handling and adapting to change. Change Systems have augmented our change management approach and methodology, based on our practical experience in the market. Our approach and methodology is grounded on Prosci principles. We are a primary Prosci Affiliate in Africa. Why Prosci? Prosci is a world leader in change management research and is a torch bearer in business process design. It is also the principal provider of re-engineering, change management benchmarking information, and toolkits. Research behind the ADKAR Model In 1998, the ADKAR model was first published by Prosci and is now a well-known change management methodology which has been successfully adopted by businesses worldwide. ...

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More and more organisations are realising that the environment in which they operate is becoming increasingly challenging and competitive. In response to this, many are looking at their internal culture and how their people strategies are in alignment to and supportive of their overall strategies. The result is that organisations are looking to formalise their change management so that they can link their current change management practices to their overall strategy. In order to formalise this, it is important to create a strategic framework which seeks to connect the two. At Change Systems we undertake to design, develop, and implement a bespoke strategic framework which addresses the development of organisational structures and processes, the decision-making process, the existing culture, how initiatives are planned and prioritised, leadership style and behaviour, and the standardisation and integration of change practices. Our intention is that with a holistic and integrated strategic framework that has ...

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Change management consulting is a growing field because more and more companies worldwide are struggling to cope with the changing times and are in need of help and support in this regard. As companies are adapting to newer technology implementations, dealing with mergers and acquisitions every other day, and are considering business process re-engineering, change management has become an integral part of their operations. Consulting Services to Deal with Change Management A large number of companies are trying to adopt enterprise resource planning (ERP) for smoother administrative purposes. Some of the challenges that most organisations have to deal with in today’s world include internal and external customer service management, optimisation and rationalisation as well as risk management related projects. By hiring experienced change management consultants, companies can expect to receive complete assistance in managing different types of change management scenarios. It includes helping the company t ...

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We have all seen it: An organisation’s profit diminishing over a period of time…   Little or nothing is done for years and then all of a sudden retrenchments are announced. Or a new CEO is appointed to turn around the company’s performance. More often than not this coincides with a two-year contract for the CEO.   Initiatives such as continuous business improvements, optimising IT systems, changing the company’s culture take time and doesn’t give the high impact and immediate results that cutting the labour bill does. A study quoted by Wayne Casio that refers to S&P 500 firms from 1982 to 2000, casts serious doubt on the long-term payoff of this approach.   The unintended consequences of retrenchments are many fold. When uncertainty is created in an organisational system, people start to panic and the ones that can (highly skilled and experienced employees) jump ship.   As humans we prefer stability. If we could keep control and keep most things ...

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One of the primary reasons why change management initiatives fail is that most are not integrated into the organisation’s overall practices and culture. Successful management initiatives align with, and embed themselves within, the DNA of the company, leveraging off existing role models, processes and communication platforms as far as possible. Here are some management lessons we learned from an organisation-wide enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in the mining and manufacturing sectors. The objective of the implementation process was to replace the existing ERP system, which had become outdated and was posing a business risk. The process covered the following functional areas: ·         Financial accounting, ·         Controlling, ·         Sales and distribution, ·         Materials management, & ...

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Every individual has to deal with changes in personal as well as professional areas of life. Organisations are no exception as they too fall into a lifecycle of their own. When an individual is not able to deal with change in personal life, help can be sought in the form of counselling, self-help books, a friend’s advice, and so on. But when individuals are faced with changes in their work environment, change management training comes in handy. Change Management Training for Business Success Successful organisations realise that they can unlock the true value of their workforce by creating the right environment for them. Strict performance management and more control hardly work in favour of effective change management, which essentially involves managing the workforce under changing circumstances. Change management training helps to build a bridge between the management and employees by enhancing the level of understanding between them. Training Helps to Cope with Change A culture of trust, opennes ...

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The complex nature of large-scale transformation projects such as cost-cutting, restructuring, and quality improvement, necessitates the need for a cohesive vision and plan to focus the organisation on their overall objective. We view these transformations as journeys. Like any journey, you need to plan and track according to its scope, complexity, and medium- to long-range timelines in order to get to the outcome or destination. Currently, many businesses do not have a proactive and innovative transformation culture, and thus their transformation journeys are not successful. In order to successfully realise business transformation you need a robust transformation programme, which seeks to achieve and measure goals, like value management, innovation orientation, performance culture, customer focus, and operational efficiency. With a vigorous change management effort like this you will be able to focus on leading, aligning, and preparing your organisation for higher efficiency and better customer orientation ...

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Just like change in your own personal life is not always easy, change within an organisation is not either as organisations house multi-faceted and unique people - your employees. These employees have their own views on how things should be done, and often think they know what is best for the organisation. There is certainly no magic formula for getting them to change at the same time, in the same way, to meet the same objective! However, you can be more successful with supporting them through change and achieving quick wins for your organisation.   Make the case for change well understood   If your employees do not see the reason for the change, and how it can benefit them, it is going to be difficult to get them on board because not only do you need to be able to explain the benefits of the change from an organisational perspective, but you also need to tap into their hearts and minds so they can understand “what’s in it for them”.   Put yourself in your employees&rsqu ...

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