Managing Change--Creating Successful Transitions

Change is an integral aspect of today’s turbulent world.  Yet, many change efforts fall short of their desired outcomes.  OA&D helps organizations deal with change effectively by focusing on the process as well as the product.  Our tailored approach to change is important because every change effort and environment is different.  For example, there are major differences in implementing a developmental change, a transitional change or a transformation change. 

Over three-quarters of organizational changes efforts fail to accomplish their goals.  The two major causes for those failures have been shown to be 1) a lack of understanding why the change is needed or 2) mis-management of the transition. It’s not really the change that people resist, it’s the loss of the known present, the anxiety of the upheaval, and the ambiguity of the future.  Employee reaction to change typically goes through several stages:

• Deny

• Resist

• Cope

• Adapt

• Innovate

We help move organizations efficiently through these reaction stages by involving the change initiators, change implementers and receivers in the process.  The path to change is smoothed once the employees have bought into the need for the change and know that they are valued implementers of the change effort.  We help define the transitional period (what is being gained, what is being given up) and mutually develop what has to change to make the new system work.  

At the same time, a major part of the challenge of managing during a transitional period stems from the fact that managing people who need to learn new skills at the same time that they must deliver performance requires a new set of principles that tightly link performance with responsibility and behavior change.  We believe in involving employees in outlining and internalizing the roles and responsibilities for effecting the transition. 

Thus, OA&D’s collaborative approach achieves buy-in and helps teams get up and running quickly and effectively.  Utilizing the full range of organizational development skills we help you bring purposefulness and direction to the organizational transitions

We have helped many organizations create and implement successful change initiatives.  What questions do you have about how we can help your organization? Call 540.635.4466  or send us e-mail!

oadinc@dusenbury.com