According to change management statistics, 81% of projects that implement effective change management are completed inside the budget. Not only that, 71% of projects that implement change management efficiently were completed before the deadline. This is a clear indication that effective change management can drastically increase the chances of your project success.
There is another side of it as well which most businesses tend to ignore. According to Harvard Business Review, 60%-70% of change management initiatives fail to deliver results. There could be various reasons for it. Some of them includes:
- Underestimating the scope and scale of project
- Ignoring stakeholders
- Lack of vision
- Lack of buy in
- Poor communication
- Strategic shortcomings
Put yourself in the shoes of an IT leader for a moment who is in charge of a change management initiative. He or she has to manage multiple teams, overseeing multiple changes at once and making sure you have enough visibility into the change process so you can control everything.
Combine that with the frequent document updating to align with changes and it can quickly become hectic for even the most seasoned IT leaders. So, how can they overcome some of the biggest change management challenges and reap its rewards by implementing it successfully? That is exactly what we will discuss in this article.
In this article, you will learn about three change management challenges and how you can overcome them.
3 Biggest Change Management Challenges
Here are three biggest change management challenges that are giving IT manager’s sleepless nights.
Resistance To Change
The first thing you will notice when you push your change initiatives is resistance to change. People tend to resist change because they don’t want to get out of their comfort zones. They have gotten used to using the same tools and don’t want to go through the steep learning curve and start from scratch again. Convincing those people who are resisting change can be a daunting challenge but also critical for the success of your change initiatives.
You need to make them visualize how your change initiatives can not only bring value to your business but can also deliver benefits for them. Once they start to visualize the true benefits of change initiatives, they will certainly put their weight behind your change initiatives and provide you the support you need from them. You should focus your efforts on highlighting how your change initiatives will make their lives easy and solve some of their biggest pain points to get buy-in from them.
New Tools and Systems
The pace at which new tools, new technologies and new systems are being introduced makes it extremely difficult for IT leaders to keep pace with them. This not only makes your existing tools and systems look outdated but also persuades you to upgrade to the latest tools and systems. Sadly, upgrading to the latest tools and technologies such as HOSTNOC VPS is not as easy as some people might think. Apart from the additional cost, it also involves training your employees on how to use those new tools and technologies so they could take full advantage of them. Once you get over this hurdle, you need to migrate all your current data to new tools and systems which is a cumbersome process as well.
Burnout and Work Related Stress
The IT and cybersecurity of servers in Spain industry is notoriously known for its work related stress and employee burnout. This has become so big of a problem that it is forcing IT professionals to either switch careers of marketing meme or retire earlier than expected. If you add change management into an already long list of tasks, this can put even more pressure on your employees. They can bear it to a certain extent but if it goes beyond a certain threshold, it will lead to work related stress and eventually employee burnout.
How To Overcome These Change Management Challenges?
Here are some of the ways you can use to get over these change management challenges.
Embrace Failure
As mentioned in the beginning of this article, a majority (60%-70%) of change management initiatives fail but that should not stop you from pursuing them as the benefits outweigh the effort you put in implementing them. Instead of trying to hit the home run in the first attempt, be ready to embrace failure. There is nothing wrong in failing in your first couple of attempts until you learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat the same mistakes again. When you fail, it gives you a fresh new perspective to look at things from a different angle and try new things.
Encourage Team Members To Wear Multiple Hats
Once your team knows that even if they fail, they won’t be penalized. This will encourage them to experiment with newer ideas and think out of the box. You want your change management team to be able to wear multiple hats at once and juggle multiple roles simultaneously in order for your change initiatives to succeed. You can even foster cross departmental collaboration and see how your team members perform in a different role. This will be a great learning opportunity for them and also give you an idea about their true potential.
Communication and Collaboration
If you want your change management initiatives to succeed, you need to make sure you constantly communicate and collaborate with team members. Every team member should know their role and contribute towards the goal. Constantly communicating with your team members will help you develop better understanding and stronger relationships with them.
This makes it easy for you to hold team members accountable for their actions and encourage them to take responsibility. This can help you make the right decision and empower your employees. All this can have a positive impact on your change management initiatives and increases the chances of success.
Which is the biggest change management challenge you have ever faced and what steps did you take to get over it? Share it with us in the comments section below.
