Which Change Management Approach Should We Use?

What is a change management approach?

Put simply, these are structured ways of helping people change by moving from being unaware, to aware, to understanding and eventually accepting (or resisting) a change. Every large consultancy either has its own home-grown change management approach or uses one of the popular approaches from the academic/business community. That’s why working with independent consultants like The Change Shed is beneficial. We have all worked with large companies, consultancies, and specialists employing their own change management approach. We know what works.

Common elements of the change management approach

Many approaches to change management read a bit like a recipe for changing your business. Research has suggested the following ingredients:

• Share the direction and vision for what needs to change. If you don’t where you are going, how will you get there?
• Catalyse the change. Changing the business requires energy. Energy is derived from understanding the need for change. Otherwise, why would anyone bother changing?
• Develop people to lead change. Often called “champions”, or “change agents”, these are the people who will help make change happen.
• Build the skills required. Success will be limited if skills are missing (or there is not a clear approach to developing those skills).
• Empower people. There needs to be enough autonomy for people to make a change. Being told to do something differently is rarely a sustainable approach.
• Deliver short and long-term benefits. Progress motivates people. Success breeds success. Therefore, most approaches to change talk about quick or early wins, mixed with bigger longer-term benefits.
• Create business and individual wins. Crucially, people should be able to see what is in it for me as well as what is in it for the business.
• Anchor change in behaviour and culture. Changing different aspects of the business, should result in changes to behaviour and ultimately to culture because it changes the way we do things around here.
• Communicate effectively, this is critical to success. Most of all the ingredients, communication is a critical component in any change management approach. Ideally, it will be two-way, honest and regular.

Our change management approach

Here at The Change Shed, we don’t dogmatically follow a single change management approach. However, recipes for change are useful. So, we use them to understand whether you are missing key ingredients. We use our knowledge to ensure that we develop a change management approach that can help you to change quickly, but in a way that is meaningful for your business. In conclusion, we ensure that we use the right ingredients for your specific change challenge to help you to change, grow and improve.