Frequently Asked Questions about Change Management
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:34 am
Do changes need to be documented?
Documentation is a rather important point, despite its seeming prosaic nature. Changes must be recorded in documents already at the initial stage and after all steps aimed at implementing innovations. Automated systems will be of great help in this. Thanks to them, documentation during the management of technological changes occurs together with other operations and does not require manual description.
What role does fear play in change?
Changes in familiar, comfortable working conditions cause fear. Everyone is afraid of a worsening of the situation, a decrease in wages and the status of a professional, familiar working conditions, an increase in the workload.
James O'Toole, author of "Leading dentist data package Change", described more than 30 reasons why people resist change. Among them are incompetence, uncertainty, inertia, force of habit. Fear is at the top of the list. It is the main reason for resistance not only to changes that are considered unnecessary, but also to those that are clearly useful and interesting.
Who do dissatisfied employees blame?
Let's imagine a critical situation: an innovation project has been launched, money has been spent, and there are no results. The fact is that the implementation of change management has failed. Who is to blame? The Project Management Institute PMI conducted a study in a company that failed to bring changes to a successful finish. The results are interesting:
14% of respondents experienced problems with mastering new technologies. Further reasons are indicated, such as incorrect, vague goals. They were mentioned by 17% of employees. The lack of communication channels with personnel was stated by 20%, an unfamiliar production format stopped 17%. The main factor of failure was named by people as poor change management – 32%.
Could the failure be due to management incompetence?
The hard truth is that leaders must be united. Lack of cohesion blocks positive change. Failure is not only the fault of the management team actually responsible for innovation, but also of senior management.
What happens to a company going through change?
The organization has announced the beginning of transformations. The criticality of the situation and the need for change have been explained to the staff. Those responsible have been appointed. Information has been provided on the goals, actions, and desired results, and channels of communication have been established between employees on project issues. As employees realize the inevitability of leaving their comfortable, familiar conditions, cynical moods increase and turn into open resistance after about 1–2 months. When change management is implemented, the staff is dissatisfied, and management is forced to solve a host of new problems and return to clarifying old ones.
Referring to the John Fisher curve, built on the theory of E. Kübler-Ross, we can assume that events can go according to different scenarios. However, all project participants move through the phases of denial, anger, depression, and, finally, acceptance. There will be a redistribution of forces in the team: new leaders will appear, issues of compliance with job responsibilities will be resolved, which can qualitatively change the management apparatus.
Why do you need a transformation manager?
It is very difficult to carry out a strategic change management project, leveling all the challenges and the resulting avalanche of problems. There must be a leader who will literally lead the company by the hand to the desired result. This role can be assigned to a change manager. A competent and responsible person who perceives the project as his brainchild is able to help understand and accept new tasks, outline ways to implement them, and reduce the risks of possible failures. He shows a personal example of trust and interest in innovations.
The change manager is emotionally close to employees. He has empathy, a desire to help overcome fear of the unknown, to go through the stage of depression. He is there when the time comes to accept changes and feel personally involved in achieving the goal.
Changes in the implementation of change management in a company become a reality when a team of innovators under the leadership of a manager becomes a real fighting unit - organized and motivated for success, when managers are real leaders, ready to take responsibility for everything that happens in the name of the future renewal of the company, its stable and effective existence.
Author of the article
Dmitry Svistunov
Dmitry Svistunov
Head of SEO and Development
Latest articles by this author:
Documentation is a rather important point, despite its seeming prosaic nature. Changes must be recorded in documents already at the initial stage and after all steps aimed at implementing innovations. Automated systems will be of great help in this. Thanks to them, documentation during the management of technological changes occurs together with other operations and does not require manual description.
What role does fear play in change?
Changes in familiar, comfortable working conditions cause fear. Everyone is afraid of a worsening of the situation, a decrease in wages and the status of a professional, familiar working conditions, an increase in the workload.
James O'Toole, author of "Leading dentist data package Change", described more than 30 reasons why people resist change. Among them are incompetence, uncertainty, inertia, force of habit. Fear is at the top of the list. It is the main reason for resistance not only to changes that are considered unnecessary, but also to those that are clearly useful and interesting.
Who do dissatisfied employees blame?
Let's imagine a critical situation: an innovation project has been launched, money has been spent, and there are no results. The fact is that the implementation of change management has failed. Who is to blame? The Project Management Institute PMI conducted a study in a company that failed to bring changes to a successful finish. The results are interesting:
14% of respondents experienced problems with mastering new technologies. Further reasons are indicated, such as incorrect, vague goals. They were mentioned by 17% of employees. The lack of communication channels with personnel was stated by 20%, an unfamiliar production format stopped 17%. The main factor of failure was named by people as poor change management – 32%.
Could the failure be due to management incompetence?
The hard truth is that leaders must be united. Lack of cohesion blocks positive change. Failure is not only the fault of the management team actually responsible for innovation, but also of senior management.
What happens to a company going through change?
The organization has announced the beginning of transformations. The criticality of the situation and the need for change have been explained to the staff. Those responsible have been appointed. Information has been provided on the goals, actions, and desired results, and channels of communication have been established between employees on project issues. As employees realize the inevitability of leaving their comfortable, familiar conditions, cynical moods increase and turn into open resistance after about 1–2 months. When change management is implemented, the staff is dissatisfied, and management is forced to solve a host of new problems and return to clarifying old ones.
Referring to the John Fisher curve, built on the theory of E. Kübler-Ross, we can assume that events can go according to different scenarios. However, all project participants move through the phases of denial, anger, depression, and, finally, acceptance. There will be a redistribution of forces in the team: new leaders will appear, issues of compliance with job responsibilities will be resolved, which can qualitatively change the management apparatus.
Why do you need a transformation manager?
It is very difficult to carry out a strategic change management project, leveling all the challenges and the resulting avalanche of problems. There must be a leader who will literally lead the company by the hand to the desired result. This role can be assigned to a change manager. A competent and responsible person who perceives the project as his brainchild is able to help understand and accept new tasks, outline ways to implement them, and reduce the risks of possible failures. He shows a personal example of trust and interest in innovations.
The change manager is emotionally close to employees. He has empathy, a desire to help overcome fear of the unknown, to go through the stage of depression. He is there when the time comes to accept changes and feel personally involved in achieving the goal.
Changes in the implementation of change management in a company become a reality when a team of innovators under the leadership of a manager becomes a real fighting unit - organized and motivated for success, when managers are real leaders, ready to take responsibility for everything that happens in the name of the future renewal of the company, its stable and effective existence.
Author of the article
Dmitry Svistunov
Dmitry Svistunov
Head of SEO and Development
Latest articles by this author: