The Key Steps to Revitalise Your Organisational Change Program
- Kerrie Smit
- Jun 30
- 5 min read
Revitalising a change program that is faltering, feels unsteady, or lacks sufficient support is a challenge most Change Managers will face in their career. For larger change programs, this may involve a comprehensive approach to improving its structure, culture, and overall efficiency. In the current business climate, organisations are trying to stretch their resources further, getting more from their change teams than ever before. So how do you balance the needs of the organisation with the needs of a people-driven process like change management? This blog post covers the key steps to effectively revitalise your change program and give it the best possible shot at success.
Understanding Organisational Change Revitalisation
Revitalisation of a change program needs to be a structured process aimed at reassessing the change strategy, team culture, and execution of change activities. The ultimate goal is to enhance the program's ability to deliver, boost team morale and collaboration, and create sustainable change. A successful reassessment of a struggling change program should verify the following:
A thorough understanding of the organisation's current state before the change.
Clear and aligned identification of the areas for improvement.
A sound organisational structure, budget, and resourcing to implement effective change interventions.
Key Elements of the Revitalisation Process
In revitalising the change program, you will need to implement a series of changes; however, identifying these should be part of a holistic approach that targets several aspects of the change. Here are some key elements to consider:
Leadership Commitment: Effective change management starts with strong commitment and alignment from leadership. Leaders must be willing to champion the change and act as role models for the rest of the organisation. This sets the tone for the cultural shift needed to facilitate revitalisation.
Employee Engagement: Engaging the team in the revitalisation process is crucial. Their insights and feedback can provide valuable information about what changes are necessary and can significantly increase buy-in. Depending on the scale of the change program you're renewing, informational interviews, surveys, and focus groups can all help involve employees and provide meaningful feedback.
Clear Vision and Strategy: Organisations should have a clearly defined vision and strategy for their change programs. This includes setting specific goals and identifying metrics for measuring success. This is especially critical for business transformations—fundamental shifts in how an organisation operates, encompassing changes to processes, culture, and technology. A well-communicated strategy ensures that all employees understand their role in the process.
Assessing Change Program Health
Before implementing changes or course-correcting an in-flight change program, assess its current health to determine the reasons for perceived underperformance. While there may be many sources of information, some simple tools can provide insights:
SWOT Analysis: A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the change program can help pinpoint areas for improvement. This analysis can be extended to the business area receiving the change, helping to identify the interplay between broader organisational pressures and the specific challenges facing the program.
A SWOT analysis can help determine whether the change program is addressing the right problem before you assess how well it's performing.
Employee Feedback: The information gathered in employee engagement sessions can capture employee sentiment and highlight pain points. If employee resistance to the change is high, this could be a significant contributor to the program's ill-health. However, if sentiment shows significant support, the revitalisation should clearly focus efforts elsewhere.
Performance Metrics: Reviewing performance metrics related to the program's progress—like engagement reach, training attendance, and communication saturation—provides insight into where in the change process you should start looking deeper.
Implementing Changes
Once you have assessed the change program's health, the next step involves making focused changes.
Streamlining the Approach: Reducing inefficiencies is critical. For instance, if certain change analyses or detailed tasks are taking longer than necessary, look into automation or simplified processes. This may also indicate that stakeholder involvement is less than enthusiastic, which could suggest that leadership of the change is not visible enough.
Enhancing Communication: Miscommunication can seriously obstruct change efforts. To diagnose why your communications may not be working, try:
Reassessing the goals of the communication plan.
Ensuring sufficient and relevant communication tools have been developed.
Confirming appropriate channels have been identified and prepared.
Reconfirming collaboration methods for message development and delivery.
Shifting the Culture: Sometimes change programs become difficult places to work. Morale can become low, and a culture of blame can develop. Transform your change program’s culture by promoting core values and implementing re-engagement activities aligned with your goals. This may involve realignment discussions, induction programs, and workshops that emphasise the refreshed program ethos.
Ensuring Sustainability
For change management efforts to be effective, they must provide lasting results. Here are some ways to ensure sustainability after your change program has delivered:
Continuous Improvement: Encourage a culture of continuous improvement. Implement 'business as usual' (BAU) methods for gathering regular feedback and loop this back to a key business owner to help them adapt their strategies over time.
Training and Development: Create employee training programs that will remain in place to keep skills fresh and relevant.
Celebrate Successes: Acknowledge and celebrate achievements throughout the change journey. This boosts morale and encourages a sense of shared purpose.
Overcoming Challenges During Change Program Revitalisation
While revitalising a change program brings numerous benefits, it also comes with challenges:
Resistance to Change: The current state of the program may be the result of employee attempts to shut it down. These attempts could well continue during any revitalisation efforts. It may be helpful to share success stories from other organisations to inspire confidence.
Limited Resources: Change programs - and their revitalisation - require funding. Look into reallocating resources or seeking external partnerships to support your initiatives.
Maintaining Focus: It is easy to get distracted by day-to-day workloads. Keep the revitalisation goals at the forefront through regular team reminders and updates.
Evaluating Outcomes
Once your revitalisation is underway, measure its effectiveness. This can be done through:
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Establish KPIs that measure specific outcomes of revitalisation initiatives.
Post-Implementation Reviews: Conduct reviews of newly implemented processes to assess their effectiveness.
Ongoing Feedback Mechanisms: Create channels for continuous employee feedback to refine and adapt your strategies.
Building a Resilient Organisation
A mature change management function not only improves existing structures but also prepares the organisation for future challenges. Here’s how to cultivate resilience:
Flexibility: Encourage flexibility in policies and procedures. Organisations that can pivot quickly in response to change are more likely to succeed.
Innovative Mindset: Promote a culture of innovation where employees feel empowered to share new ideas.
Community Involvement: Engage with the community and industry groups to stay updated on trends and best practices.
Revitalising your change program may not happen overnight. It can be confronting to admit when something involving so much time and effort isn't going well. Getting it back on the rails requires openness, conscious effort and sustained commitment.
By implementing a strategic approach, you not only improve the performance of the change initiative but also enhance employee satisfaction and the overall company culture. While taking the courageous step to reassess and improve your program, remember that successful change is a journey. Place all your new lessons and insights in your toolkit, and enjoy the process of transformation.
For information on effective strategies and further insights, consider exploring business transformation solutions tailored to your unique organisational needs.
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