How to Align Your Team With Your Vision For Organizational Change?

According to a study published by McKinsey and Company in 2020, just over 70% of change initiatives fail to achieve their goals. While this is due to a variety of factors, including a poorly articulated vision, ill-defined expected outcomes, and a host of issues resulting in employee resistance, this stark statistic highlights the critical importance of aligning your team with the change vision in order to ensure organizational change success.

?In today's fast-paced and ever-changing business environments, aligning your team with the change vision is more crucial than ever. Nowhere is this more important than in organizations that wrestle with adopting new technologies, streamlining business processes, and navigating complex human-social interactions emanating from the change effort. In a previous article, “How to Define a Clear Purpose for Organizational Change”, the case was made for advancing a clear and unified vision; one that inspires, motivates, and unites people around a mutually desirable future state. When employees understand and support the vision for change, they are more likely to embrace what may be perceived as disruptive events, and embrace the implementation of new technologies, adapt to new business processes and workflows, and ultimately learn to collaborate more effectively with a broader and diverse team.

While the lack of alignment often leads to resistance, confusion, and failure to achieve the desired outcomes, here are 5 steps you can take to align your team with the change vision.

?Step 1- Define and Align: Begin by clearly defining and communicating the vision for change; one that inspires, motivates, and unites people around a mutually desirable future state. Ensure that it is specific, compelling, and aligns with the organization's overall mission and goals. Use simple and clear language to avoid ambiguity and misunderstandings. Further, align the vision in a way that helps your people see how the change aligns with their personal and professional goals, since when individuals understand how the change benefits them, they are more likely to support it.

?Step 2- Engage and Involve: Ensure that your leaders, at all levels of the organization, are fully committed to the vision and are engaged in its attainment. Visible public support, and active involvement of all leaders, are crucial for the effective transferrence of the vision across the organization. Leaders must therefore model behaviors and attitudes that assist in the attainment of the vision, while enlisting the support of those they lead in its adoption. Leaders must also involve their teams very early in the change process by sincerely seeking their input, addressing their concerns, and ultimately incorporating their feedback. This early engagement strategy goes a long way in fostering a sense of ownership and commitment to mutually desirable outcomes.

?Step 3- Communicate and Train: Now that leaders are visibly involved, and teams are committed to taking the change journey, it’s imperative to maintain frequent, continuous, and open communication about progress. This can be facilitated through the use of multiple channels, such as emails, meetings, and social media, to keep everyone informed and engaged. But awareness does not translate to competence; that’s why providing training that equips those affected by the change with the necessary skills and competencies is paramount for long term success. Through focused skills training, individuals will be able to develop the requisite knowledge and skills needed to adapt to the change, successfully employ the use of new technologies, while garnering the confidence needed to utilize new workflows and business processes.

Step 4- Motivate and Empower: Communicate the reasons why the change is necessary and why it needs to happen now. Creating a sense of urgency helps to overcome complacency and motivates individuals to take action. Communication entails not only the pinpointing the reasons that dictate the need for change, but also articulates the costs and consequences if change is neglected. This communication can be further brokered through the use of change agents who are most familiar with the change being pursed, while building effective coalition groups to advocate for its adoption. Through the use of change agents and coalition groups, you will be able to find individuals who can champion your vision, and motivate others towards change adoption and ultimately change permanence.

Step 5- Celebrate and Adjust: Take the time to celebrate milestones and successes by recognizing notable achievements and milestones along the way. This intentional effort to celebrate your wins help to reinforce the vision and keep the team motivated and focused on the end goal. As the change effort meanders towards achieving its vision, also ensure to continuously monitor the progress of the change initiative and adjust the vision and or strategies as needed. This flexibility is key to navigating unplanned human-social challenges, while ensuring their sustained alignment with the change vision in the long term.

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?By clearly articulating the vision, involving leadership, engaging employees, and following the steps outlined above, organizations can effectively align their teams with the change vision. This alignment is essential for navigating the complexities of today's business environment and achieving successful outcomes in technology adoption, process improvements, and enhanced human-social interactions. Therefore, these 5 steps are not only foundational for executives, change practitioners, project managers, and business leaders to adopt, but are rather critical change adoption enablers.

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Ready to unlock the full potential of your organization with expert insights and tailored change management strategies? Connect with Dr. Donnell Josiah at ChangeDynamix by calling (855) 987-6900. Elevate your leadership by following Dr. Josiah on LinkedIn for powerful, actionable advice on navigating and leading successful organizational change. Your journey to transformation starts here!?

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Source: McKinsey & Company. "How to beat the transformation odds." 2020.

About the Author Dr. Donnell Josiah is a seasoned technology executive and change management consultant renowned for his passion for transforming organizations through innovative technology solutions and fostering alignment between organizational goals and people. With over 30 years of experience leading complex projects in healthcare, education, and government, Dr. Josiah has a distinguished record of delivering impactful results. His unique, people-first approach to change management ensures that technology initiatives not only meet organizational objectives but also resonate deeply with the organization's culture and values. As a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Dr. Josiah also brings a strategic and meticulously disciplined approach to project execution, ensuring seamless integration of technology with business needs.

In his latest book, "The 5Ps of Change: A Strategic Roadmap to Successfully Lead Organizational Change," Dr. Josiah unveils his proven methodologies for navigating complex organizational transformations, equipping organizations with valuable tools and strategies needed to unlock their full potential.