Change Management

Introduction

Change management is thoughtfully and carefully re-aligning the organisation to adapt to wishes of beneficiaries, new technologies, sector changes, new government policies, shifting donor markets etcetera.

Why

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The toolkit change management might be useful for you when there is:

• an introduction of a new government policy
• a change in the funding market
• a change in needs of the beneficiaries
• relevant new technology

What you can expect

In nine steps, we assist you in getting your team on board, clearly mapping out what and how changes are to be made, and making sure proposed changes are implemented. Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide, tools, examples and other resources for managing change.

Step 1: Identify the need for change

• Think about which changes in your sector are most relevant and how these affect the organisation.
• Have a general idea of what is needed in your organisation to adapt to these changes.

The difficulty of change management and the need to look at both formal aspects (e.g. organisation structure) and organisation culture (how people think, act and feel) is clearly explained in the video below.
 
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Step 2: Form a change management team

• Form a change management team. The group should consist of management from across the organisation, trusted and influential staff members (the 'special forces' from the video on the previous page), people working in the 'frontline' and beneficiaries.
• Collect information about the changes in the sector you are dealing with: demands from your beneficiaries, new technologies, changing income streams, new government regulations, etc.
• Analyse how this affects your work as an organisation. 
• Think about how you can involve your team in the steps along the way. The more you involve them, the less scary the change will be. 

Step 3: Create Urgency for Change

• Question the effectiveness of the strategy you are using right now to reach your goals. What happens if you do NOT change? What is the urgency for the change?
• This is the basis of your change management: you thoughtfully and carefully re-align the organisation based on what strategy is needed to reach your goal. 

Watch this excellent video below from Changeactivation in which these steps are explained. It also prepares you for the next steps: how to support your staff in implementing the changes necessary.

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Step 4: Set Change Vision

• Create an overall change strategy for the organisation and present it to the change committee.
• Edit, refine and strategise until your strategy aligns with your ultimate goals. 
• Describe this vision in a strategy document. Your change strategy or vision is significantly different from the organisational vision. It will have a set time frame and describe how to measure your desired outcome, by which you will know when change has happened. The vision should be easy to understand and communicate to all parties involved.
• Make an easy elevator pitch or video for your change vision.

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Step 5: Communicate your reasons for change

• Create a compelling message outlining:
  • the market changes
  • the status quo scenario: what happens if you do NOT change?
  • the vision for the organisation after the change
• Communicate all change messages consistently across the organisation: all emails, speeches, newsletters etcetera should paint the same picture.
• Keep explaining the reasons for change. Not everyone will listen, remember and believe it the first time. Repeat your reasons again and again.

Step 6: Minimise uncertainty

• Be as transparant as you can be about the changes to come
• When there is an information vaccum, people will often assume the worst.
• So repeat your reasons for change again and again. 
• Remember: change is less scary when you are in the driver's seat. So involve your team as much as you can.

Step 7: Celebrate successes

• Create actions or projects that will be easily and obviously successful to reconfirm the validity of the new vision.
• Celebrate these successes; make your staff part of these wins
• Keep celebrating all milestones along the way in moving towards your goal

Step 8: Repeat your reasons for change from all angles

Watch this excellent video that explains why people find changing so difficult. In order to promote change, you should communicate about:

• the advantages of the change (the goldpot)
• the disadvantages or risks of the change (the crutches)
• the advantages of not changing (the mermaid)
• the risks/disadvantages of not changing (the crocodiles)

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Step 9: Institutionalise Change

• Create new systems and processes throughout the organisation to adopt the change that has taken place. This may include:
  • revision of appraisal and review processes.
  • changing orientation processes for new staff.
  • changing hiring policies.
  • changes in Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).
• Also, do not forget to communicate the changes within your organisation to the outside world as well. Work with your communications team to make sure the external communication aligns with the internal communication. 

Key To Success

• When the urgency for a change is widely felt, it is easier to implement the change.
• Clear, constant and consistent communications repeating the reasons for change. Minimise uncertainty!
• Celebrate all steps towards reaching the goal 

Challenges

• If the change management team is not powerful enough, it will be difficult to implement a change and to get the support of the staff and management.
• Implementing change top-down is often ineffective. The team needs to be involved.