Your organization should be continually changing and growing. Often, this evolution is slow and natural, but other times your company might have to undergo a sudden and transformational change to take advantage of a new opportunity, keep up with advancing technology or to prevent falling behind the competition.
To successfully survive a complete transformation of your business, it’s important to understand the end objective, have a clear plan that is clearly communicated to employees and manage expectations.
Understand the High-Level Objective
Before making any changes, leaders in the organization need to have the same high-level vision and objective for the company. The entire leadership team needs to be working towards the same goal in order to provide stability for employees and make the transition as smooth as possible.
Have a Plan
After recognizing the end goal, outline specific objectives with a detailed action plan. Since there are multiple ways to execute transformational change, it’s essential everyone’s ideas are considered and there’s agreement on the best way to move forward.
Clearly Communicate
Internal change can be unsettling for employees, so it’s vital to inform employees why the change is occurring, how the change will affect day-to-day business and how the organization will ultimately benefit. You should anticipate concerns and be prepared to answer, explain and address any that arise. It also helps to keep the lines of communication open during transformational change and encourage employees to share their thoughts and ideas.
Manage Expectations
Even with the best planning, unexpected problems or unintended consequences could occur, causing a drop in morale. If you end up losing the support of employees, it can be almost impossible to successfully implement meaning change. That’s why it’s important to manage expectations by being open and honest and keeping everyone updated on developments, delays and achievements.
Arguably the most important requirement to successfully transform your business is to have strong leaders in place that will provide stability, instill confidence, provide encouragement and move the organization forward.
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