Change Management

When your organization takes on new initiatives to better focus on customer outcomes, improve performance metrics, respond to competition, implement new technology, or even merge with another organization, these initiatives most assuredly will involve change. That change can involve business methodologies, processes, job roles, or even mandate a journey to an entirely different charter. However, it is actually the people on your team that ultimately must change how they do their jobs. If your team doesn't embrace these changes, your initiative will fail, or at the very least, fall far short of delivering the results you wanted.

What Is Change Management?

Change management is one of BCI's areas of expertise. That expertise and experience helps us prepare, equip and support your people in order successfully adopt change and achieve very successful outcomes. While change can embody a wide range of initiatives and an equally broad range of unique individual personalities, there is significant research that we can draw upon to help your people in their transition. In essence, change management provides a structured approach to help your people move from their current behaviors and skills, to what ultimately becomes, their own future state.

The research and models that BCI utilizes depends upon your organization's unique goals and culture. We have utilized models from Dr. John P. Kotter's 8-Step Process for Leading Change; to models put forth by the Change Management Foundation; to Dr. W. Edwards Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle; to highly customized models our change experts developed with specific customers. We've even deployed Agile transformation techniques to take advantage of the latest thinking. Choosing which of these techniques or innovations to adopt, depends upon the levels, goals, and strategies we jointly choose, the measurement system you wish to put in place, the sequence of steps that make the most sense for your organization, and the overall implementation and organization changes being attempted. Our job is to work with you to define and manage this change process, and ultimately guarantee your success.

Winning Employee Buy-in

Employee buy-in is what we consider to be the most critical aspect of our work, and what differentiates us. Effectively managing organizational change involves four key elements in our experience:

• Recognizing the changes in terms of the broader business impact;
• Determining the necessary adjusts to effect the change;
• Training your team on the necessary changes; and most importantly,
• Winning the support of your employees, through persuasion and demonstration of the impact of making these changes.

To accomplish this last element, we believe in engaging the people emotionally and encouraging them to believe in something bigger than themselves. We show them the power of doing things in a different way, and then help them gain momentum by letting them experience the power and consistency that the change enables. As these activities progress, we help them make changes to their behaviors and equip them with the new skills that will make them successful. Once they've experienced the results that align with their new portfolio of skills and behaviors, we cement those behaviors with reinforcement activities and coaching. Throughout the entire change process, we continue to show them the results they can achieve once they've adopted their new portfolio of skills and behaviors.