The following guest post was written by one of my Kronos colleagues, Lynne Levy. She offers good advice here on how to manage change - at any level of your organization. Thanks, Lynne!
In today's competitive environment, organizations need to be innovative, efficient, retain great talent and continuously change and evolve. One key to success for an organization is understanding how to effectively go through the change management process. How can an Enterprise Social Network (ESN) help facilitate organizational change? Here are some best practices around change management and how an ESN can help facilitate change.
Setting the Vision
A key part of change is communicating the vision including why change and why now. Leadership needs to take the time to walk the organization through the business case for change and the urgency behind it. According to Kotter, “without taking the time to create this sense of urgency, leaders and employees will not have a call to action to get on board with any change initiative” . An ESN can help with this process. For example:
Translate the Vision
Another part of change management is understanding _what is in it for me.' Until employees start to understand what the vision means to them, it's difficult for them to get behind the change. An ESN can help with this process:
Take a Pulse on the Change
Change management is not a set it and forget it process. It requires continuous evaluation, pivoting and adjustment.
First Follower
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ]
This is one of my favorite videos to explain how organizational change happens. It shows how a lone dancer along with the first follower can create a movement. An ESN provides a platform for the lone dancer and the first follower. It's through an ESN that the one employee can take the risk and start to ask good questions. And then when another person chimes in on the ESN, it's suddenly safe to start to ask questions. Once people start to participate in the movement, they become part of the change.
Stakeholder Analysis
Another key practice in change management is a stakeholder analysis. An ESN can provide insight into who are the influencers in the organization and where are they on the change curve. What an ESN can provide you is insight into those with informal power and influence. These are the employees who may not be in a leadership position but whom many trust and listen too. An ESN can help you identify these informal leaders based on ESN data such as postings, followers, comments and influence within the ESN. You can then focus on getting these informal leaders on board with the change.
Celebrate Small Wins
To build momentum, it's key to celebrate small wins. As people start to embrace the change, adjust processes and/or mindsets, celebrating small successes helps build momentum in the process. An ESN can be leveraged to celebrate small wins.
Questions to Consider
© 2022 Workforce Institute All Rights Reserved • Designed and Developed by Morether Creative Agency, Temple, TX