Are you rolling out a change or new initiative in your company? Don’t even think about starting a change process without completing these steps.
Start with a plan
Any change you want to get rolling, whether it is a change in strategy, policy or when changing systems, must come with a well thought out plan.
If you don’t have a plan before beginning the change process, the expenses for your change effort will increase rapidly. Chances are, you will also find that your efforts will not be accepted among your staff and may ultimately fail.
Get everyone involved
The key ingredient to change effort success is your team. You want as much brainpower behind a new initiative as possible.
If you want people to accept a new initiative, you must make sure they are involved in the planning, decision making and implementation. By keeping your staff involved, you will ensure they support your efforts.
Why is getting your staff’s acceptance important for change to occur? If your staff does not support new methods, they will stick to old practices, rendering your change effort useless.
Continually reinforce why the change is important
Not only do you need to get your staff to embrace change through keeping them involved, you also need to communicate to them why the change is so important.
If your staff fails to understand this simple fact, they will never see the importance of your new strategy, and cling to old practices.
Implement change
Now comes the hard part. This is where behavior, practices or systems must actually be changed. You must stick to your plan, keep your staff involved and actively working so the implementation is a success.
Expect hiccups
Hope for the best but plan for the worst. Chances are, you will run into problems during the beginning stages after a new initiative has been rolled out.
A system may not work as expected, a new strategy is proving more costly, or employees might not be adhering to new policies. Whatever the issues are, you will be at a severe disadvantage if you don’t plan for these setbacks.
Brainstorm possible issues that could arise and plan for contingencies.
Any other best practices for change implementation? Comment below!