How to Manage Change Saturation

How to Manage Change Saturation

Organizational change is increasing in frequency and volume. We should expect and manage continuous change, so it does not take a toll on our people.

Change saturation occurs when the people in your organization cannot absorb the number of changes you're implementing. This leads to employee stress, burnout, and attrition.

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Source: Prosci's Best Practices in Change Management – 11th Edition


Here are a few suggestions for leaders and organizations to recognize saturation, assess the impacts, and find solutions.


1. Understand your organization's capacity for change.

Consider your organization's culture, recent history with change initiatives, and your change capability.?

  • Does your organization’s culture embrace change?
  • How have similar projects fared recently?
  • Are stakeholders facing many more change initiatives than before?
  • Is the case for change on this initiative compelling enough for individuals and teams to go the extra mile to make it successful?


2. Inventory all change initiatives, gauge the change impact of each one, and evaluate the organization's capacity to manage the changes effectively.

Identify all the changes in your organization and the impacted stakeholders.

  • Who is impacted?
  • How significant is the change impact?
  • Will the stakeholder groups adapt to changes in their ways of working?


3. Manage your change portfolio.

Prioritize the projects based on your organization's ability to sponsor, lead, manage and sustain the change over time.

  • Do you have a holistic/visual representation of the projects, timing, and impact on stakeholders?
  • Do you have a structured way to introduce new projects into the portfolio?
  • What is your mechanism for pausing projects to minimize the impact on specific audiences?

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Additional suggestions:

  • Make sure your projects have adequate sponsorship, resources, and funding.
  • Follow a change management framework with centralized communication and collaboration across projects.
  • Monitor signs of change fatigue in your front-line employees, their managers, and the sponsors of your projects.

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These simple suggestions help you develop a holistic view, allocate sufficient resources, engage stakeholders, reduce stress and frustration, and evolve your organization’s change muscle. More importantly, the suggestions should help you manage your projects to ensure organizational changes do not drain your company.

Managing change saturation is easier with an experienced consulting partner. Contact us to learn how we can help.


???? QUESTION FOR YOU: How do you manage change fatigue in your organization????



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Matthew Halverson

Consultant at Ignite Consulting LLC

2 年

I like the suggestion to view all projects on a page (or wall). The holistic view of the projects, timing and audiences help us wrap our minds around how much change we are facing.

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Alejandra G.

Pilates Instructor & Author of the Little Books of Series

2 年

It helps to list all changes, big and small. Many small change initiatives can add up -which can overwhelm employees quickly.

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Mike Dreyer

Delivering programs that drive behavioral change.

2 年

We routinely find our clients facing this challenge, good insights.

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Jake Barber

Director of Operations at Ignite Consulting & Former Co-Founder at Nomad Ventures

2 年

An effective way to monitor change fatigue is to provide feedback loops for your teams such as surveys or one-on-ones. Nurture a culture of honest communication so you can understand when employees begin to feel overwhelmed.

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