Comment mettez-vous en œuvre le changement dans votre organisation?

The change we often look forward to is for bringing something better to a workplace in the form or a new system or new work procedure. Analysing current practices and comparing it with the future possibilities helps identify the gaps, and what we are missing on, in order for change to take place.

Change has to be enabled by the leadership of the company but without empowering your employees to design and implement change, the initiative is bound to fail. For that, you need to clear and compelling communication. If people have to ask each other, "why are we doing this?" then you have already failed on the communication step.

Change is not the difficult part. Transitioning (everyone) is. A key is to start involvement broadly in the organization at the the "why" level. Many (including myself previously) solve for the "why" first, and then overindex on presenting and pushing the "how" the org. Empowering team members to take part in shaping and understanding the why creates ownership to the change, and motivation to transition.

I believe that it's often a misnomer to say that people don't like change; mostly, people don't like the unknown and the feeling of being out of the loop. Bringing them along in the storyline by explaining the why and what and how, and involving them in the next steps, makes a big impact on how engaged they are in the change process.

Transparency is important through the entire process. Which means, it's also important to be transparent about the progress the organization is making. What's working, what's not. Why. The good and the bad.

One of the biggest opportunity areas when it comes to organizational change is waiting until you realize a change is coming to work on the underlying cultural and behavioral factors that make it a success. For example, successful change requires a team built on a strong foundation of trust. This requires things like transparent and regular communication and managers that create an environment where people feel comfortable being vulnerable and asking questions. This kind of culture and these behaviors aren’t things that can be built overnight. As a result, if you wait until a change is coming, you won’t have adequate time to get where you need to be. Furthermore, the behaviors won’t last after initial change and it won’t be adopted.

I believe that while strategies guide us, it's empathy that truly drives positive change. Ensuring everyone feels heard and valued, especially during transitions, strengthens professional bonds and fosters a cohesive work environment. After all, at the heart of every organization are its people, and it's through mutual respect and collaboration that we achieve true progress.

If you are new to a team then start with smaller changes instead of introducing radical changes from the get go. Your team needs time to develop trust in you before they are more open to radical change suggestions.