Navigating the Tricky Waters of Organisational Change: Avoiding the Pitfalls
In the ever-evolving landscape of business, businesses often find themselves in the throes of change. Whether it’s adapting to product or market shifts, technological advancements, or internal financial or people challenges, the need for restructuring can arise.
While restructuring can promise greater efficiency, productivity, and alignment with goals, it’s not a decision that should be taken lightly. In partnering with our clients to manage change in their business, we ensure that ample time is taken to carefully define what is driving the change and what the goals and outcomes are, to ensure the process stays on track and the benefits anticipated, are realised at the end.
One of the biggest pitfalls during any change process is inadequate communication. When change is afoot, the rumour mill grinds into action, and uncertainty creeps in – morale can plummet faster than you can say “Change.”, so clear, transparent, and timely communication is key. We tend to advise clients to ‘over communicate’ – keeping message precise, consistent, and frequent. This removes any likely confusion or doubt from creeping in around your change process.
Your team need to fully understand the reasons driving the change, what changes are proposed and how they will be impacted. Failure to communicate these 3 aspects in a change process effectively can lead to confusion, anxiety, and resistance.
Grievances are more likely to arise when your change process is not clearly defined, or messages are not communicated well. It’s crucial you run a tight process and ensure that you are across all the potential risks associated with the change. In our experience, when dealing with change – circumstances can quickly evolve as more historic information comes to light – so allowing time to do the prep well can help mitigate any unforeseen risk.
Below are our tips to help you stay on track – when considering a change process:
Clarity of Goals:
Before diving headfirst into restructuring as a solution, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of the outcomes you are looking to for. Without a well-defined strategy, you run the risk of creating chaos rather than clarity. It’s crucial to identify the goals you want to achieve through the change process and that those goals align with your long-term objectives and vision for your business.
Neglecting Change Management:
Any change can be unsettling for some people. Neglecting a proper change management process will result in resistance, low morale, potentially costly grievances, and ultimately falling short on the goals you set out to achieve.
Adopt a change management strategy that will support your employees through the transition, rather than keep them in the dark. Get a plan in place early: establish timelines, communication channels and messages well to help your people to better understand why the change needs to happen so they are more likely to get onboard. Also, importantly invest in external expertise help with your change process. Organisations like Hello Monday can take so much pressure off you by helping you plan and manage your change process. Having an objective presence in a change process signals to your people that you want to run a proper and fair process.
Rushing the Process:
Rome wasn’t built in a day! Rushing through a change process without proper planning and consideration can lead to costly mistakes and unintended consequences. Build in time to fully assess individual circumstances of those impacted, gather data, and develop a well-thought-out plan. It may take longer, but it will be worth it in the end. Engage expertise: business advisers, your accountant, employment lawyer, or an expert HR company – to ensure that you have not overlooked any aspects in preparing to make the change.
Encourage Employee Input:
Your people are your most important asset, and overlooking their input during a change process can impact the engagement levels and your business, during, and post-process. Do genuinely consider feedback given – it may influence you to adjust your thinking and approach.
Your people will provide valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. Failing to involve them in the process can breed resentment and resistance. Even more: encourage feedback, listen to concerns, and involve employees in decision-making wherever possible. It fosters a sense of being valued and can lead to more successful outcomes.
Overlooking Cultural Fit:
Organisational culture plays a significant role in the success of any restructuring effort. It’s not just about moving pieces around. it’s about ensuring that the new structure aligns with the values, norms, and beliefs of your organisation. Ignoring cultural fit can lead to a disconnect between employees and the new structure, hindering future collaboration and productivity. We have found from experience that the clients who have worked hard to have a strong culture have the least amount of resistance to change when it needs to happen and they understand the need for change.
Failure to Evaluate and Adapt:
Once the restructuring dust settles, it’s tempting to sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. However, the work doesn’t stop there. It’s essential to continually evaluate the effectiveness of the new structure and be willing to adapt as needed, and this is important because it shows that you always looking at ways to improve your business operations.
What works today may not work tomorrow, so remaining responsive and flexible is key to long-term success. We find when working with clients, that they will evaluate things following a change process: in 6 or 12 months’ following. This may sound a short timeframe, however, when you can see how much your organisation has evolved in that time, it lends you perspective of how your change has improved your business operations.
In conclusion, while organisational restructuring can offer significant benefits, it is not without its pitfalls. By avoiding these common traps and approaching the process through thorough careful and considered planning, care, communication, and collaboration, you can navigate a change process more successfully, ensuring a smoother transition and a stronger, more resilient organisation in the end.
If you do not have internal HR presence, we always recommend that you seek help with your change process even if it is just one role that is being impacted (and it seems straightforward but it never is – trust us). We have helped many clients across different industries through many change processes over the years, each one unique and with its own challenges. Engaging external support to help you through a change process, will not only reduce your stress levels, but help you mitigate any potential risk and allow you to be more present to support your people.
Hello Monday is here to help you successfully navigate any change you need to make in your business. Contact us at hello@hellomonday.co.nz or call us at 09 377 5200.