Tim York is the Chief Growth Officer of leading accounting and consulting firm FORVIS.
Several years ago, a blue-chip tech company switched CEOs, and that leader quickly discovered that its salespeople were vying with each other for client business. Clients were called, and even nagged, repeatedly by competing forces within the same company.
While the CEO rightly put a stop to that sales behavior, it was far from smooth. Company leaders failed to articulate why a new change was critical for the organization, the client and—most importantly—the sales team.
The net result: It took nearly a decade (yes, you read that right) for the company to right the ship and become unified.
In today’s world, most companies don’t have a decade to pivot and correct mistakes, and in some cases, some may have only a couple of quarters to effectively deal with change.
Change in the workplace is a virtual inevitability. Personnel changes, new service offerings, various disruptors, company strategy shifts, and mergers and acquisitions can all bring about anxiety or uncertainty for employees, customers, vendors and more. That sense of unease can be exacerbated through a company merger or acquisition where the combined workforce often wonders—and worries—about their futures. Furthermore, the speed of a transaction and the immediacy of something different can drive difficulties.
Through all the uncertainty, those organizations that adhere to a four-pronged change management structure and related processes are more apt to weather change and thrive in their new environment. Those four steps focus on explaining the purpose of the change, articulating how the change will be designed, testing or piloting the idea, and deploying and measuring the effectiveness of the new workplace structure.
Plan With Purpose (The Why)
Purpose involves building the business case for the change and answering not only what you want to do but why it is important. Executives who focus on the impact on the various stakeholders and end users enable the creation of a compelling visioncomplete with “What’s in it for me?” statements geared specifically to the constituents being addressed.
It is during this critical first phase that you look at change from a systemic lens and determine the cadence and pace of change in the context of what else is taking place in the organization. By focusing on the impacts of change across your organization, you can make intelligent and purposeful decisions regarding timing. Prioritizing change initiatives in this way helps avoid change fatigue and allows your organization to maximize the benefits of the change.
Careful Design (The How)
Design is where you answer the question of how you will pull off the change. Change, from our company’s perspective, is a team sport. That means we want many fingerprints on the plan for how we roll out the change. Collaboration is the name of the game here.
It builds buy-in, fosters a feeling of ownership in the change and, perhaps most importantly, allows for a stronger, more robust plan execution by including the input and insights of those most impacted by the change. In particular, you need to create an environment where people feel empowered to participate, provide feedback, ask tough questions and feel ownership for the successful execution of the change initiative.
Pilot Your Plan
Thethird element of the change management process is to pilot your plan. It is important to test change/solutions before fully deploying to discover those so-called “bugs” and to create what we like to call a “closed loop learning environment.” Those who are involved in the testing process often become early adopters and, in fact, change champions for the rollout.
Deployment Requires A Road Map
Deployment is the final element of our change management process. To deploy successfully, you need a clear road map, complete with measurable milestones along the way. This allows individuals to see the progress being made. It also leaves room for the all-important celebrations throughout the process.
In addition, your company needs to develop a solid training plan designed to give end users the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to be successful. A strategic communications plan will help bring people along as the information needed to be successful is shared in a just-in-time fashion.
It doesn’t end there. You need to ensure there is a robust support system in place for employees when they have questions, experience anxiety or need reassurance.
Finally, measuring and monitoring the change closely allows for the inevitable tweaks and pivots that will be required. That will also provide opportunities to celebrate “wins” early and often.
Final Thoughts: Evaluating Next Steps, Considering ROI
Companies sometimes struggle with understanding whether they should hire a change management officer. I believe that our strong commitment to managing “white water change”—as we did with our 2022 merger between DHG and BKD to create FORVIS—helps to accelerate adoption and build what we call “change muscle” across the organization.
But I also recognize that not every organization will hire someone for that role. So, unless your organization has the capacity to hire a chief change officer—as we have done with Jeff Outten leading our team—my advice would be to make change management a priority of your organization’s senior leadership.
There are some clear benefits, as well. For our company, purposeful, intentional change management has allowed us to accelerate positive and effective change together. That has led to enhanced employee experiences, a culture of engagement, retaining our pre-merger client experience metrics and more.
In the end, I believe that is what every company is striving for.
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