Navigating change - the hidden bumps in the road

There is so much literature on change management. For the newcomer to the subject, it can be overwhelming. Managers can spend so much time researching methodologies and the ten steps and four phases and twenty one caveats and so on. First of all, let me be very clear on the issue of methodology: you need to become adept in metethodologies and mamgement tools. A professional that does not use the right tools is simply not ... professional. Can you imagine a well paid plumber turning up without a wrench and then trying to use a pliers? Can you think of a CFO without a balance sheet? A microbiologist without a microscope? So why do so many managers go through thir careers without understanding the need for tools? Tools for desision making, problem solving, forecasting, pulse taking and the list goes on. Get trained (yes we can help:)) and learn to employ methodologies suited to whatever it is you are trying to do (we can help with this too:)). I would strongly suggest dabbling in LEAN management and any aspect of six sigma. Project management. Take your pick, but don't go to war without the right gear or you will get flattened! And if you are driving change, even if it's not an all-out war, you will have some battles to fight. And win. So by all means read the literature and aquire the skills. But. There are a few things you may or may not find explicitly described:

1. If top management isn't 100% behind the effort, don't even try to make it. If any one of the stakeholders involved can go over your head and receive any answer other than "This is how we are going forward" you will fail.

2. Beware the boat rockers. One individual can derail the entire change effort. If you tolerate that one lifelong employee, that one station that "knows better" that one cog with a broken spoke, you will fail.

3. Resistance to change IS a thing. But here's the thing: if you don't eradicate it in the earliest of stages, you will fail. And this may seem brutal but sometimes you can eradicate the resistance, more often than not, you will need to eradicate the Resistor. Do your homework. Come up with a solid plan. Be clear. State the way forward. Be fair. Let them know that there is room for everyone on the boat. Offer support, training, counselling, whatever. But in the end you will probably also have to offer severance compensation, so jot in an accrued expense in your cost of change. Anybody not rowing with the team is likely to sink the boat. If you do not give a very clear message starting out, you will fail to reach the finish line.

4. Be humane. But be pragmatic. Treat people with respect. Change is better supported by people who believe in the reason to change, rather those forced into it. And as it is in so many different cases, if you have to use too much force, you are probably doing it wrong.

5. A final brutal truth: if you are a manger tasked with bringing about change, you have no obligation to accommodate those who believe they can prevent it, either outspokenly or through subterfuge.

So equip yourself with the right tools and stay the course. And never stop learning along the way. The rewards of a succesful change initiative can be immensly rewarding to all those that make it happen.