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Change in companies can be difficult. It demands that people adapt to new ways outside their comfort zones that transform their entire culture.
However, change can be a necessary step towards building a better organization. In fact, 79.7% of people need to make changes to their businesses every two to five years just to survive.
This means adapting to change is a requirement, not an option. But how you plan or implement these changes can make or break your company.
To achieve the desired impact and ensure everything goes according to plan, you need a change management process.
Not sure what a change management process is or how you can develop one? We’ve got you covered.
This article will guide you through the different steps, types and models of change management, plus templates to help you manage the process.
Let’s get started.
The change management process is a series of steps that involve preparing for the change before it happens, managing the actual change process and evaluating the outcome. It also uses three key principles to guarantee that your organization implements the changes smoothly and effectively. The three core concepts of the change management process include:
Change management aims to integrate change into the company as seamlessly as possible. This strategic process minimizes or eliminates the negative impact change brings to employees and stakeholders.
On top of that, it makes the transition to the new status quo much easier and results in your business remaining competitive in the industry.
Here are three benefits that change management brings to your business:
There are three levels of change management:
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There are three phases at this level. “Preparation” involves developing a change management plan. It explains the need for change and defines its scope and impact.
“Implementation” refers to the plan’s execution. This is also where you communicate the change to employees and stakeholders and support them.
Finally, “follow-through” is where you monitor the effectiveness of the change and address issues.
An example of this change type is succession planning. You want to identify what the goal is and the challenges ahead (preparation). Then, identify potential candidates who will succeed the incumbents (implementation). Once the candidates fill the role, track their performance to mindetere if the plan is successful (follow-through).
This level of change management requires incremental adjustments in your organization. It doesn't disrupt the status quo as much, making change easier to implement and sustain over time. The adaptive change also asks for suggestions from employees for improvements.
An example is when a company uses feedback to make small changes to its customer service process. It can start with improving response time. After implementing the change, the company can then hire new customer service representatives in the next phase of the change process.
Talking about collecting valuable feedback from both employees and customers, Visme Forms can help you get up to 270 higher conversions and response rates.
Some people have adverse reactions to change. This level tries to understand why employees react negatively toward the change. This way, you can address their concerns and present the change in a manner that appeals to them and support them.
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Here are the steps for developing a change management process that will get people on board:
Communicate with employees and management why the change is necessary. Determine what you want to improve in your organization. Then identify the change that will help usher in improvements.
When suggesting change to people, present it in an easy-to-understand manner. Visme’s data visualization tools help you turn complex statistics and figures that support your argument for change into tables and graphs.
Next, get points of view from people in your company. This allows you to broaden your perspective and confirm if the change can make a positive difference.
List the strategic goals you wish to achieve with the change. Then, identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure its effectiveness.
Next, figure out the individuals who will help with implementing the changes. To help them through the process, consider using an employee training plan template. The documentation explains the change management’s objectives, methods and tactics. This gives individuals a better understanding of the change and how to implement it correctly.
If your business or operations are more specialized, include key documents employees should begin using during the transitionsuch as SBARs, SOPs, or other process-specific templates.
You also need to include the steps required for the change to take effect and what to do if the change is met with resistance.
Finally, list the resources, time and estimated cost to complete the project. You want to assign someone with organizational management skills to this task. They have the experience to assess the materials and costs needed to execute the change, and create a management presentation to share with internal stakeholders.
Roll out the change with a specific department in your organization first. Test what works and what doesn't in your change initiative with a small sample size. Use the results here to improve the change process before implementing it on a larger scale.
The key here is engaging employees through the change management process. You want to hear your employees' thoughts and ideas about the change. Use their feedback to make the change more palatable to everyone.
Part of your plan should include embedding the change into the company’s culture. This prevents people from falling into old habits and not implementing the change.
Aside from constantly communicating the importance of change, form a change coalition. It consists of people who will put change in place across various departments. This may be a huge undertaking, so you may have to hire new employees who will enact the changes. In this case, build a recruitment process to find people with change management experience.
Another idea is to reward people who adhere to the change. This incentivizes others to commit to the change until it becomes the norm.
Gather data and feedback from the change management plan you executed. Check if the plan met its KPIs to determine if the change was successful or not. Use the information collected here to improve your future change management processes.
You can gauge the success of your plan’s implementation within the company using Visme Analytics. It lets you check how many people viewed the plan and how many times they viewed it. This can help ensure everyone is in sync with your organization's goals.
Using data analytics, you must make adjustments to your plan. To make changes more convenient, use Visme’s Dynamic Fields. First, identify dynamic values in your change management process, like steps, people responsible for the change process and tactics. Then, insert the shortcode of the values anywhere on the plan.
Once the plan’s results are in, replace the values with new ones to help improve the plan’s performance. For example, consider updating the change process steps if they’re not bringing in your desired results.
In doing so, the fields will automatically update to reflect the changes. This way, you don’t have to replace the values on the plan one by one.
Knowing the type of change management that best describes your process helps you prepare for how to address employees’ reactions.
Below are four types to choose from:
This change type is an isolated event in a person’s work life. An exceptional change management example is when employees must get new email addresses due to a name change in the organization.
The change may be momentous on some level, but its impact on most is minimal.
You present gradual changes to your organization that replace the old status quo with a new one. Also, this type of change builds on established processes instead of making radical changes. This results in people barely noticing or reacting to the change.
This type of change describes an organization’s sudden shift of attitude and behavior towards a viewpoint, much like the swinging of a pendulum. In fact, the organization's current beliefs are completely different from the previous ones they held before the shift. An example is when an organization with a culture of working in the office for years adopts a remote working setup for everyone.
This change occurs when an organization undergoes significant changes in thinking and behavior. It is done by re-integrating information and behavior that drastically changes a company's worldview and belief system.
An example of this type of change management process is transitioning from traditional on-premise software to cloud-based software. Before the change, the organization favored the greater control and customization options that on-premise software provided. However, they currently favor the flexibility, accessibility, and scalability of cloud-based software.
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To help you execute the steps of building a change management process, refer to established models. Choose one that fits your goals and suits your business well.
“AKDAR” is the acronym for the model’s five main goals.
It first raises “awareness” of the need for your company to change. You then must propose a plan to make everyone “desire” the change.
The plan should supply “knowledge” of people's roles in the process. To do this, you must assign people with the “ability” to get the job done.
Finally, “reinforcement” ensures that people sustain the change until it becomes the norm.
This model guides employees and their emotional reactions throughout the change. It breaks the change process into three stages.
In “Ending, losing and letting go,” people feel fear and discomfort toward change. “The neutral zone” is where people are between letting go of the old ways and adapting to change. Finally, “the new beginning” sees people accepting and getting comfortable with the change.
The Plan-Do-Check-Act model is a cycle that paves the way for continuous improvement.
First, your “plan” must identify your organization's problems and propose the change that will address these issues. Then, “do” the plan on a small scale, like a team or department.
While rolling out the process, “check” its results and effectiveness. From here, “act” accordingly. You can implement the change in other departments or return to the planning stage.
John P. Kotter, a Harvard Business School professor, developed this theory, which comprises of eight steps:
It’s a great process to get employees on board with the change. But the theory doesn’t consider employee feedback, which may lead to resistance.
This model uses the five stages of grief to address and guide employees.
In the initial stages of change, everybody goes through “denial” and “anger.” Some will even try to “bargain” for a compromise to avoid adapting to the change.
They will soon feel “depression” because their efforts to resist change are in vain. Eventually, your employees must “accept” change as they have no choice.
There are three stages in Kurt Lewin’s model. It first requires you to "unfreeze" your current process to analyze ways for improvement. Then, identify the "change" that will improve the process. This is also the stage where you guide people through this transition. Last, "refreeze" the change after undergoing improvements via employee feedback.
It focuses on resistance levels that cause change to fail.
The “I don’t get it” level is where people reject change because they don’t understand the need for it. In “I don’t like it,” people fear and are frustrated by the change. If they don’t trust your judgment, people will try to fight you regarding the change even if it is warranted at the “I don’t like you” level.
This model has seven elements that determine organizational issues that change can address.
The first three (strategy, structure and systems) are "hard" elements that are easy to describe and upper management can control. The other four (shared values, style, staff and skills) are "soft" elements.
They are less concrete and undergo constant change.
The nudge theory suggests finding a persuasive way to gently push employees towards wanting the change on their own rather than outright enforcing it.
Nudge theory uses evidence to help people become more receptive to change. It also considers employee feedback before implementing the change to make them feel part of the process.
The five-stage model helps you manage your employees' emotions toward organizational change.
From the “late status quo,” people develop “resistance” to the incoming change. “Chaos” may ensue if people are confused about why change is there in the first place. Upon proper “integration,” people will eventually come around to the “new status quo.”
Visme templates help you create a plan for communicating change to employees and stakeholders. The three professionally designed templates below do the bulk of the work. Choose one and replace its text and images with your own, allowing you and our customers to create a change management plan in minutes.
“I wanted a program that would help non-designers design great templates and infographics, which is what we found with Visme. Even if you don’t have a design bone in your body, you can use one of the Visme templates and modify it,” says Visme user Rebekah.
Not to mention, Visme has features to help you design an engaging plan that people will immediately embrace.
So let’s take a look at them, shall we?
This template summarizes the problem and how the change serves as the solution. The template then discusses the internal and external stakeholders most affected by the change. Finally, it assigns teams responsible for each task in the change process.
Let's say you like the flow of information but prefer using different design elements. Visme’s Brand Wizard lets you replace them with your brand’s color, font and logo with one click. Input your website URL, and Visme will extract these elements for you to use on your projects.
After finishing the plan, you can publish and share it with everybody in your organization. If you only want to give a handful of people access to your plan, you can share the plan privately. Send them an invite that authorizes them as viewers of your plan.
If you are convincing people of the need for change, use this presentation template. It includes the reasons for the change, the risks involved, benefits and more. The template uses big text, images and icons to help you visually communicate your plan.
Currently, the template is about migrating from on-site to remote work. You can customize the template’s appearance and layout and content to reflect your ideas.
Also, you want to make your slide deck as interesting as possible. Choose the appropriate stock photos and icons from our design library and place them in your presentation.
If the photo you’re looking for is unavailable on Visme, use our AI image generator. Enter the prompt that best describes the image and the tool will generate it. This helps make your document even more unique and engaging.
Another way to make your document shine is by using our interactive design elements. Create pop-ups and hover effects to emphasize important points in your presentation. They also engage people and make them more amenable to change.
The template helps draft your change management procedure. It tells you how to identify the change to implement and its particulars (steps, budget, risk and more). The workbook also helps you develop a communication, action and training plan, ensuring your change management is a huge success.
If you’re developing the plan with others, you want to review the workbook together. Visme lets you do this by adding your team as collaborators. From here, you can edit the template simultaneously and finish the plan faster.
The success of a change management process lies in achieving what’s best for your organization. Thus, carefully planning for the changes to guarantee that they are thoroughly and smoothly implemented is of utmost importance. Using the various types and models mentioned in this guide will help ensure that your organization will come out of the process better than ever.
Visme makes creating change management plans and other HR documentation much easier. With our rich library of templates, intuitive editor and features, anyone, regardless of their skill level, can design professional-looking plans faster and better.
Using Visme to address the needs and concerns of people in your organization is a no-brainer. Sign up for an account and try it out for yourself!
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