What is Change Management? The Three Levels of Change

A reluctance to change with the times can leave organizations stuck in the past. We live in a digital era where it’s essential to constantly grow in alignment with technological advancements.

Change management has become paramount for company growth, but you’re probably wondering what is change management? If so, don’t worry you’re in good hands.

Change management is best viewed through the eyes of the customer, particularly how it can offer value. It is a vehicle for supporting your clientele’s best interests, realizing benefits on route to more successful business operations. When your organization engages in activities that improve performance, an optimistic approach to change is needed.

Whether you address job roles, processes, or organizational structures, what’s most important is your employees are willing to embrace new implementations. Collectively, your employees are responsible for personal transitions, but stubbornness can often restrict growth.

What Is Change Management?

Change management guides us, with the ultimate goal of educating staff so they’re well-equipped to adopt change throughout their daily duties. When processes improve, so does your company’s bottom line, and you’re more likely to become industry trend setters rather than becoming stuck in the mud. Successful change management provides clear purpose, delivering intended results and outcomes for the greater good.

When employees are given time to adopt your strategy, change management provides a bridge to better business results. To clarify a rapidly evolving approach, change management can be viewed on three distinct levels:

• The Enterprise Level
• The Project Level
• The individual Level

By separating your change management strategy into these three categories, you’ll achieve a clear, easy vision. Let’s get into what each of these terms represents, so you can support fellow employees on route to continuous improvement.

Individual Change Management

As humans, we naturally resist change, but when we’re open to new concepts and support change, we’re actually very resilient. Individual change management is an understanding of change, and what we need to do to be successful.

As a change champion, you’ll need to understand what will help staff make a positive transition, and how to best communicate your vision. What messages do people need to hear? This extends beyond teaching new skills, and instead prioritizes influencing behavior.

Individual change management leverages disciplines like psychology, with special regards to longevity. One of the most widely used models on change is the ADKAR Model, which highlights how to encourage change from a behavioral standpoint. The main individual change goal is to enact actionable frameworks for maximum effect.

Organizational Change Management

Though individual change is a great foundation for success, it is difficult to manage change on a person-by-person basis. With organizational change management, you can implement systematic steps on a project level, which support those who are responsible for effective implementation.

This starts by identifying the groups that need to change, while establishing clear objectives. What is your ultimate goal, and how do people need to change? With a customized plan of action, you’ll boost employee awareness and leadership. Organizational change is impossible without your staff on board, so you should involve them every step of the way. Once individuals are open to the concept of change, they’ll embrace your strategy further if you utilize suggestions and take their advice on board.

Organizational change should align with project management, to effectively embrace and adopt your project’s solutions.

Enterprise Change Management

This is a final step towards successfully implementing change. Once embraced on an individual and organizational level, change should be embedded in your core values. By this point, the change has become part of your culture, with objectives being met. You will differentiate from the competition as you adapt to an ever-evolving business landscape. The roles, processes, and structures will have undergone change management, and your core competencies will dramatically improve as a result.

With consistent application, change champions can guide teams through change, with employees who have not only embraced, but accept new principles as the norm. Employees will know exactly what they need to do to optimize performance in their role.

Enterprise change management enables organizations to respond quickly to market changes, with a focus on continuous improvement. You’ll collectively embrace strategic initiatives, while adopting new technologies to cut through the digital static. For change to be adopted on an enterprise level, this requires a strategic approach.

WalkMe can facilitate your aspirations for change, especially in an age where it’s a struggle to keep up with the latest technological advancements. As a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP), WalkMe prevents you losing touch with the latest sophistications, improving your capability to change. Rather than adapt to a myriad of digital platforms, systems can now adapt to you. This is critical throughout the change management process, especially considering the necessity to utilize technology.

Every organization wants to change the world, and now you no longer need to ask what is change management, you can focus your attention on changing internal processes.