Steps to Engage People in Transformational Change

Although there are many change management strategies, most have their respective foundations. Your organization need to adopt and adapt the organizational behaviors required to engage employees in change throughout the process.

Before developing them , I’m laying some outline of 9 Steps to Engage People in Transformational Change.

Step 1: Create urgency

You must create a sense of urgency, which compels the entire organization to want change. Discussing poor sales numbers or chatting about your competition won’t achieve this.

Step 2: Form a powerful coalition

Lead from the front, with your senior leaders involved in?influencing?employees of the need for change. Identify change sponsors throughout your organization from all sources, and use these influencers to build momentum for change.

Step 3: Create the vision for change

A clear vision of the future is needed to help all stakeholders understand why there is a need for change, and the ambitions of the change project.

Step 4: Communicate your future vision

Too often, organizations tell their people that things are going to change, but never tell them why, how, or the benefits of change. The reasons for change and its benefits will need to be communicated loud and often. The message will have a lot of competition from ‘business-as-usual’ communications, and for change to be successful it must be a priority.

Step 5: Remove resistance to change

There are many obstacles to change. The major one, and the one that could bring change to its knees, is employee resistance. Employees especially in the age of globalized markets and automation, can see "change" as code for "downsizing". As a leader, it's important to reassure your team that this isn't what you mean and be able to speak to their fears.?If this is what you mean by change then you want to address it head-on because there is likely to be further demoralization.??You’ll need to structure your team to maximize its potential, employing change leaders and setting roles and responsibilities in line with their skillsets. However, there are other things that you will need to do.

Step 6: Generate short-term wins

Aiming for a single big goal can be daunting and demoralizing. You never seem to make any real progress. It’s a little like setting a target to quit smoking, or lose weight, or write a book. Instead, set smaller short-term milestones on the way to the future vision (e.g. cut out that first cigarette, lose two pounds in the first week, write a chapter a week, etc.). Make the targets stretching but achievable, so that they have a high chance of success.

Step 7: Consolidate wins and build out the change

Celebrate the achievement of each milestone, but never rest on your laurels. You have completed another stepping stone toward the future vision. You now need to build on this, by learning from mistakes made and identifying what went well.

Step 8: Set the changes in corporate culture

When you reach the future vision you set yourself, you must ensure that new processes, systems, and ways of thinking and working become central to your corporate culture. Ensure that the benefits of change are evident in every corner of your organization, and that your leaders remain supportive of the change.

Step 9: Rinse and repeat

The only constant in business is change. As I discussed in the opening paragraph, technology, rules and regulations, changing consumer habits and competitive pressures combine to make the need for change both necessary and inevitable. The world of business is an ever-changing landscape. Just because you have completed a largescale transformational change successfully, does not mean that further change is unnecessary.