In any organization, change is inevitable. Regular changes like software updates and system upgrades need effective planning and strategizing so they don’t disrupt vital workflows. A solid change management strategy is a key part of being future-ready.
Change management is a necessary part of organizational growth. It’s a mission-critical task that becomes a regular part of operations. The more a business relies on essential tech, the more important effective change management strategies are for IT leadership.
Change management strategies need to start with a 30,000-foot view of the overall purpose and vision for the change. Since even small alterations to the tech stack can affect daily operations, you need to have a firm understanding of the full impact the change management process can have on employees and leadership.
Always establish if you need to respond to an incident, fix a problem, or make a change in the information technology infrastructure library (ITIL). Additionally, you should define what type of change you intend to implement.
Every proposed change management plan will receive some type of scrutiny from leadership and employees. You should prepare to defend your strategy against common criticism. In most cases, developing a change management plan using a robust set of data can help provide evidence for the necessity and importance of the change.
Be ready to have a response to the four common personality types who might resist change:
Developing the right change management strategy includes effective communication. Before you start the planning or design process, you need approval from all stakeholders.
Defining best practices for change management involves understanding the different change management models. The right strategy may employ one or many approaches. Since change management projects are often big, costly, and complicated, developing a unique approach that fits your organizational needs can help optimize effective change.
It’s worth noting that many of these models focus on organizational change. Still, you can implement many of these approaches into your IT change management plan effectively.
McKinsey & Company created the powerful 7-S Model so that teams don’t overlook critical information. This method focuses on breaking down the change management process into seven components:
Developed by Prosci founder, Jeff Hiatt, this model focuses on five main goals:
This strategy emphasizes the people involved in the change process. Developed by Harvard professor, John Kotter, this method involves eight steps:
These are a few actionable strategies you can use to help develop your change management process. Each situation is unique, so avoid approaching each project with a one-size-fits-all mentality. The more catered your change solutions, the more effective the results.
While change is necessary for modern organizational growth, you don’t have to always do it alone. If you’re looking to add Desktop as a Service (DaaS) functionality to your organization through products like virtual desktops, or even a fully unified communication platform, Evolve IP can offer unparalleled support and expertise. We partner with IT professionals to bring together their essential productivity and communication tools into a single, secure cloud-based solution, fine-tuned for the hybrid workforce and delivered as a service. Contact us today to learn more.