It is not organisations that change, but the individuals within, who have to perform new and/or improved ways of working. Contrary to some popular beliefs, there are no universally applicable approaches to implement a successful transformation.
Change and transformation implementations have three key aspects: Mission & Strategy, Organisational Structure & Systems, and Human Resources Management.
The strategies chosen to implement changes across these aspects need to be regularly monitored and assessed using an “Action & Reflection” approach.
Vision & Strategy:
- The development of a clear and detailed vision of what the future organisation will look like, in consultation with the key stakeholders of the change.
- The development of individual implementation strategies for the various goals that have been set out.
Organisational Structure & Systems:
- Analysis of the existing structures and systems in place, and how these might need to be modified to best suit the future organisation.
- Development of project management plans on how to modify structures and systems.
Human Resource Management:
- Analysis of employees’ values, their values-congruence with the organisation, their beliefs system, and potential reasons to resist change.
- Analysis of the existing culture and sub-cultures present in the organisation, and how these need to be approached or altered to support the vision of the future organisation.
- Coaching of stakeholders and leaders to enable a successful implementation and subsequent stabilisation of the future company.
Action & Reflection:
All organisational change begins with a conceptional mind model, based on the latest academic knowledge and best practice in the field, on how the change will be implemented. Following this, a detailed action plan is developed and applied. However, every change and every organisation is different and reflection strategies need to be in place to revise the conceptual plan to fit the people and organisation.
This means that the feedback from the action trials and experiences forms the basis for a conceptualisation of future actions.