An Opportunity to Promote Organizational Change

Organizational change is hard for most of us. Probably the hardest part is establishing trust and credibility with new reporting relationships. Today, I was assigned a new (interim) opportunity at work. To help me guide my team through this, I decided it was time to start looking for some tips and best practices to lead through organizational change.

First, I stumbled on this article (https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm) and thought I'd share it in case anyone else is interested. I can definitely see how this model can help leaders plan their strategy, promote employee engagement and foster a strong sense of commitment in the midst of organizational changes. Kotter's first step is to create urgency... that made me chuckle. Sometimes that is created for you. You just have to pick up the ball and run with things. When that happens, you hope that steps 2 through 8 come at a more reasonable pace, allowing for careful consideration and time to fully engage everyone in the vision. If it all works out, your team will come out stronger than it began. 

Also in my search, I found this article, https://psychcentral.com/lib/tips-for-coping-with-organizational-change/ that offers some great suggestions for employee engagement. I am a firm believer in work/home balance. We spend far too much time at work to not make it a good place to be. But I also know that there are many days that we'd rather be at home with family and friends. Finding that balance is important. I hope that my co-workers, both old and new, will trust that I have their best interest at heart and will do my best to help them maintain the balance they need to be happy while also meeting our business commitments. 

As we work through our changes, I realize how very fortunate I am that everyone I work with is very knowledgeable and experienced, true experts at what they do. I am lucky to be part of a strong leadership team that can lend support through our current transitions. I am grateful to be valued by our senior leaders, who listen to my suggestions and take action to implement change based on those recommendations. I am very optimistic about where we can go together as a team, as an organization and for our company.

Change is inevitable; you choose how to respond to it. I choose to make the best of it for me and those around me. That is my commitment to myself and to my organization. Wish me luck!