A simple guide to effective change management

1. Planning the change:

 Communicate the following:

 What are you changing?

 Why are you changing it?
 What are you changing to?

 Obtain approval and gain commitment and support from the leadership team and
key stakeholders

 Link change to the organizational vision and strategy

 Understand, manage and address any concerns and doubts

 Designate a key change champion and enlist change agents in each functional area
to encourage collective participation of all stakeholders for the change to succeed

 Document current situation, required change action items and expected results

2. Implementing the change:

 Be responsive by:

 Constantly communicating the benefits and impact of the change

throughout the entire change process
 Addressing questions openly and without any bias
 Dealing with issues and dispelling rumors as quickly as possible

 Focus on:

 Strong and disciplined execution

 Generating quick wins and celebrating accomplishment of milestones
 Promoting collaboration and negotiation with stakeholders as necessary
 Adapting organizational structure, process and management system to
support the change

3. Sustaining the change:

 Anchor the changes into the culture of the organization by

Kayode Oladele
  Identifying and enhancing what supports the change
 Identifying and mitigating roadblocks to sustaining the change

 Develop ways to maintain the change by

 Ensuring continued leadership support and consistent communication of

progress and achievements made
 Creating an incentive system that encourages contribution to the success
of the change effort
 Establishing a feedback system to gather input from stakeholders and
make the necessary adjustments
 Implementing a performance tracking dashboard that compares actuals to
expected results to determine where to apply optimal changes

Kayode Oladele