What A Change Management Plan Can Do For You
A Change Management Plan
A change management plan may be the answer to your uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s face it, if you’re feeling uncertainty, frustration, and anxiety during these weird times, you can imagine how your team must feel. In the last post, we touched on all of the possible changes that you and your team have been experiencing during the pandemic and the associated shutdown of many businesses. Seemingly everyone I know has had to shift and change how, when, and where they work, and I’m sure you’re no different. A well-thought out change management plan will help you to formulate, implement, and communicate changes that are coming about.
What Will A Change Management Plan Do?
Drafting a change management plan will help give you and your team more peace about what the future holds. That is a big, bold statement, but that’s the heart of what having a plan will do. When you have an effective plan, all of those random thoughts, worries, and uncertainties concerning your team and your business are well on their way to working themselves out. Just getting something down on paper is a huge and helpful first step.
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” ~ Jim Rohn
Beginning With The End In Mind. Opportunity In The Midst of Uncertainty.
Think of a change management plan as a set of blueprints for construction of a building. Essentially, when you are creating your change management plan, you’re thinking through what you want the final product to look like and reverse engineering how to get there—you’re beginning with the end in mind.
Whoa, when things are viewed through that lens, they look a lot like opportunities! Yes, these are crazy and uncertain times, but if you could retool your organization or team to effectively meet your mission and vision, what would it look like? How does that fit into the current conditions as well as what the world will look like post-pandemic? This is your opportunity to be creative within the framework of what is realistic.
Important Elements Of An Effective Change Management Plan
Your change management plan needs to be realistic, adaptive, authentic, and take both a short- and long-range view. In the coming months, you will have to plan on being rather adaptive and flexible. Honestly, no one knows what the next twelve months hold. But just as importantly, some of the changes that impact your organization may be around for a long time. For example, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Slack, Square, and a slew of other large companies have either considered or committed to allowing much of their staff to work from home indefinitely. I feel that the pandemic will prove to be a pivot point. Twenty years from now, we will reflect on how at this time, companies shifted in processes, policies, and culture. Embrace those changes and think creatively about how you can incorporate them into what your business model looks like.
Once you have an effective change management plan, you will viscerally feel a sense of calmness start to come over you. I promise! Don’t get me wrong, things will come up, and you’ll need to work through them, but know that you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to me if you are feeling stuck or need help in creating your plan. You know I’m always here to help. Until next time, be kind and be well!
