Recently while teaching a MBA class on organizational behavior, the topic of change management came up. Change management is something I seem to touch on on some level in any class, from analytics to strategic management. Why? Because any business process optimization, strategy plan, or market dynamic (internal and external) has change in it. It's that simple to state, CHANGE is abundant and will always happen at some point.
What I have thought of recently though, is the fact that change in change management, actually isn't the hard part..... wait what? We see studies and research show it is.... well to me, it's not the change part that's hard...the actual ACTION of change.
The hard part about change management is the choice to participate in it.
We focus on leading change through example....sure that is notable and needed. Employees, students etc need to observe those who are trying to lead a change, live it by example.
We need to build a awareness and communicate clearly why the change needs to happen, sure.... being clear on an objective or goal and why change is needed to meet that goal helps.
We also say continuous motivation is also important.... yes that's good, keep people excited and going...
However, outside of that, I still think it's the element of choice that matters the most in change management. It has to be a choice right? We can't force anyone to change...and in fact, we don't necessarily change anyone....so are we really managing change or is it more Change Influence? Because ultimately no one, at least where I work is forced to do anything. Now they have consequences maybe...
So again, if we focus on what influences the CHOICE of change management, the actual action of change will be that much easier. So let's focus on that perhaps from a leadership and strategic perspective. Empowering the CHOICE allows internal motivation to level out the external motivation.
Cheers,
The Doctor of Digital Strategy
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