Over the last decade, businesses have faced numerous changes, requiring internal adjustments. These changes can range from minor, phased adjustments to major organizational transformations. Change management is the process of effectively managing these changes.
Organizational change management helps identify impacts, prepare teams, and achieve the company’s goals. This method includes planning, providing the right tools, communicating changes, making them happen, ensuring they last, and checking the results.
Snagit can help with documentation, communication, and training throughout the change management process, from planning to review.
What is change management?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, change management involves managing change and development within a business. It uses a structured process and tools to achieve desired outcomes.
Change management is critical for business success, especially during significant transformations. Successful change management requires that employees are on board with the change.
A recent Gartner study showed that employees faced 10 planned changes in 2022, but support for these changes dropped from 74% in 2016 to 43% in 2022.
A Forbes article explains that people resist change not because of the change itself but because of its uncertainty. Concerns include more work, job security, loss of control, strained relationships, and whether their team and managers will support the change. Effective change management, including a communications plan, can help mitigate these concerns, ensure employees understand the desired outcomes, and support successful implementation.
How to manage change
Core elements to consider
Successful change management leans on these Core Elements:
- The change – Understanding what needs to change, what it needs to change to, and why
- Plan for implementing change – How will you make the change happen? What are the impacts/risks that you need to include in your plan? What training is your organization going to need for the change? How will you engage stakeholders?
- Communication plan for the change – How will you communicate the change to get understanding and support for it with the people of your organization?
- Necessary tools for the change – Ensure you know what tools are needed for the change and equip your employees with the required tools and training.
- Implementing the change – Putting your plan into action to enact the change your organization needs.
- Retrospective of the change – Review how the implementation of the change went. What problems/concerns are there still? What went well? Is there any additional training or iterations that need to be done?
Effective communication is a necessity in these core elements of change management. Snagit is the perfect tool for creating clear, visual documentation, communication materials, and quick videos to share and capture information that supports these elements.
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Step 1: Preparing for change
The first step in the change management process is preparation. Clearly articulate the change and the desired outcome the organization wants to achieve. Identify your key stakeholders and the timeline for implementation.
Use Snagit’s screen recorder to create quick videos to convey the change and desired organization to your stakeholders. This can save management and stakeholders time in understanding and conveying the information. Collecting questions and concerns from your stakeholders will help you develop your change management plan.
Step 2: Developing a change management plan
Create a detailed plan that outlines the various steps in the change, the timeline for when it will occur, a communication plan for helping your organization understand and support it, and the resources needed for it.
- Who needs to be involved?
- Do you need external knowledge or assistance?
- Who is your project manager?
- Who is the sponsor of the change, and who is the decision-maker if something unexpected comes up during implementation? Will there be checkpoints along the way?
- What meetings, training, etc., need to be scheduled? Proactively identify potential resistance.
Snagit allows you to create visual guides that compare changes, explain a concept, or provide a timeline of events. With Snagit, you can visually map out the change management plan and share it with your team.
Step 3: Implementing the change
Before you start implementation, begin with your communication plan. It is imperative for success that you effectively communicate with everyone involved. Senior leaders, managers, and employees must understand the change, its benefits, their responsibilities, and why it is happening. As part of this, ensure you are all on the same page regarding what success looks like and have regular check-ins scheduled to monitor progress and address any concerns or risks that may arise.
After your communications plans are set, you can execute the change plan. This includes training, supporting, and continuing to communicate. By reinforcing the change, its benefits, and what success looks like, you remind the organization of its goals and keep everyone focused.Snagit is an excellent tool for creating training materials, recording tutorials, and capturing real-time feedback during implementation. It is especially great for making quick tutorials or step-by-step instructions on new or changing technology, systems, or processes to help employees get up to speed.
Step 4: Monitoring and managing resistance
Managing resistance to change is crucial for successful implementation. Start by implementing a structured approach from the start, engaging senior leaders as active sponsors and direct managers, and clearly communicating the need for change and its benefits.
Expect resistance as a natural response, and plan for it by understanding its root causes, such as fear of the unknown, disruption of routines, and loss of control. Use active listening to gather feedback and address specific concerns.
Engage key stakeholders and influencers as advocates and ensure transparent communication so employees understand the reasons for the change and its benefits, such as the desired outcomes.
Monitor progress and be prepared to adjust strategies based on feedback and shifting circumstances.
Tools like Snagit can also enhance communication and documentation by creating clear visual explanations, capturing feedback, and providing step-by-step guides. These can assist employees in adapting quicker and reducing resistance. By following these strategies, you can better manage resistance and increase the likelihood of success.
Step 5: Reinforcing the change
To ensure the change is sustained over time, it is essential to reinforce it through continuous support, communication, and training. Regularly update employees on the progress and benefits and provide ongoing training to help them adapt to new processes.
Use Snagit to create follow-up materials, such as video tutorials and annotated screenshots, to reinforce learning, and provide easy reference guides. Capture best practices and document success by recording success stories and performance metrics.
This continuous reinforcement helps embed the change into the organizational culture, ensuring its long-term success while pushing against the status quo and achieving short-term wins for teams across your organization.
Why change management matters
Change management is crucial for organizations to navigate transitions and achieve desired outcomes. The benefits of change management include ensuring changes are implemented in a structured manner, minimizing disruptions and resistance. Organizations can achieve strategic goals and maintain a competitive edge, creating a better future state, by preparing, equipping, and supporting individuals to adopt new processes, technologies, or structures.
Addressing the human side of change improves employee engagement, reduces resistance, and increases the likelihood of successful implementation. This leads to faster adoption, higher usage rates, and better proficiency in new systems or processes. Ultimately, organizational change management drives success by aligning people with desired outcomes, realizing benefits, and sustaining improvements over time.
Here are three key benefits of effective change management and how Snagit can assist in each part:
Minimizes disruption
Implementing a structured change management approach reduces the disruptions that often accompany change. Snagit can help by creating clear visual guides and tutorials that explain new processes or systems, making it easier for employees to understand and adapt quickly. This ensures that business operations continue smoothly, minimizing the impact on productivity and employee morale.
Enhances employee engagement
Change management involves clear communication, active listening, and addressing employee concerns, which helps to engage employees in the process. Snagit can capture and share feedback visually, making it more impactful. Creating engaging and informative updates enhances any organizational change management strategy, and Snagit can also keep employees informed and motivated, fostering a more cohesive and supportive environment.
Increases the success rate of change initiatives
With a well-planned strategy, organizations can increase the likelihood of successful change initiatives. Snagit can assist by documenting best practices, capturing success stories, and creating follow-up materials such as video tutorials and annotated screenshots. These resources can reinforce learning, provide easy reference guides, and showcase the benefits of the outcome, leading to higher adoption rates and better usage of new systems or business processes.
Looking to improve your change management process?
Are you looking to improve your change management process? TechSmith’s Snagit is a versatile tool that can significantly enhance your efforts by capturing, communicating, and sharing information throughout the change management journey. Snagit allows you to create clear visual guides, record video tutorials, and capture feedback, making it easier for employees to understand and adapt to changes. To help your team get started, TechSmith offers a variety of tutorials and resources, ensuring that everyone can leverage Snagit’s full potential to support a smooth and successful change initiative.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The biggest challenges in change management often include resistance to change, where employees may be reluctant to adopt new processes or technologies. Communication issues can also arise, leading to misunderstandings and a lack of buy-in.
Additionally, resource constraints such as limited time, budget, or personnel can hinder the implementation of changes. Without strong support from your management teams, change initiatives may struggle to gain momentum. Cultural barriers at the organizational level or within specific teams may resist changes that conflict with established norms and values.
Success in change management can be measured through various metrics, such as employee adoption rates, which indicate the percentage of employees who have adopted the recent changes. Performance metrics, including improvements in productivity, efficiency, or other key performance indicators (KPIs), are also important.
Feedback and surveys from employees and stakeholders provide insights into its effectiveness. Achieving specific goals and milestones within the change management plan is another measure of success. Finally, evaluating the return on investment (ROI) helps determine the financial benefits gained from the outcome compared to the costs incurred.
Several tools can facilitate effective change management, including project management software like Asana or Microsoft Project, which help plan, track, and manage change initiatives. Communication platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom enable seamless communication and collaboration among team members.
Training and development tools like LinkedIn Learning or Coursera provide resources to help employees adapt to changes, while Camtasia and Snagit can be used to create tailored training materials. Snagit is a vital tool for capturing visual content, documenting processes, and facilitating clear communication during change management. It allows you to create screenshots and screen recordings, annotate images, and share visual instructions, making it easier to explain new processes and ensure everyone is on the same page.
A change management model is a framework designed to guide organizations through the process of change.
Organizational change that requires official change management techniques are those that are likely to significantly affect processes, people, culture, or technology usage within an organization. This could include technology implementations and upgrades, mergers and acquisitions, organizational restructuring, cultural transformations, process improvement initiatives, and regulatory or compliance changes.
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