Make change happen

Posted 3 mins ago by Sarah Glover 8 Minute(s) to read

Change is neither good nor bad, in essence—it can be both, depending on how and why it occurs. With compliance management will come change. It arrives as a result of continuous improvement, of adapting to new laws and regulations, staffing changes, corrective actions, and responses to incidents and events.

Course correction is a good and necessary thing. However, for change to be effective rather than disruptive, good change management is necessary. Throwing new policies and processes and equipment against the wall and hoping they stick is not the way to go (especially the throwing equipment part; don’t do that).

Enacting changes within your workplace, whether they be corrective actions or responses to events or outside factors, should be done with care, thought, and communication. Implementation is crucial here, as is competency and induction—making sure that your team knows what they’re doing and how they’re doing it as they adapt to a change.

The risks of poor change management

Changing the brand of tea in your lunchroom is typically (not always!) fairly low-stakes; you can just go ahead and do it, and deal with the fallout if necessary. Bigger changes, however, can have bigger implications. In many cases, there are legal principles and obligations that must be followed when it comes to corrective action and change. These workplace change guidelines by Employment NZ and this information from WorkSafe about taking action to manage known risks are both helpful in understanding the bigger picture.

Making changes unilaterally and without due process, even with the best intentions, can risk:

• Disruptions in processes that cost time and money. Changes made without good communication and management can cause errors.
• Problems created rather than solved as you try to fit the round peg of your processes into the square hole of a fill-in-the-blanks template.
• The loss of good team members due to issues on the shop floor that materialise after the change is implemented without forethought. Gallup stats have shown that employees who have experienced disruptive (i.e mismanaged) change are more likely to be disengaged, disconnected to culture, and burnt out. These employees, often your most valued and not your work-in-progress team members, are also much more likely to leave the organisation.
• Destruction of your company culture due to poor communication or consultation, loss of IP, and existing in an enduring state of flux.
• Incident recurrence, and the potential legal consequences of this due to inadequate corrective action. If an incident happens again and official action is taken, regulators will check whether it has happened before and if so, what was done to prevent it happening again.

An expensive and local example of disruption and expense caused by poor change management was the failed automation project at Ports of Auckland, where 27 automated straddle machines were purchased without proper consultation and research. The project was scrapped and $65 million of equipment left to sit for years. Now, the machines will be converted for manual use—but the whole process has seen much time and money wasted. If the machines were small enough, we’re sure someone would have been tempted to throw them at the wall in frustration; as it is, it’ll be a big lesson learned.

As an addendum to this, defining what is a “big” change and what is an inconsequential change can be where the issue lies. Managers may think that changing the brand of some crucial product is no big deal, while workers in the shop floor know that it will throw a serious spanner in the works. This highlight, again, the need for communication and consultation with everyone affected by a change.

 

The benefits of good change management

Appropriate, successful, and considered change is transformative! Proper corrective action creates a safe environment where incidents do not recur and your processes are continuously improving, contributing to:

• Better engagement and retention. Studies like this one show that change management practices have a positive effect on retention rates, and retaining good people saves your business time, money, and stress.
• A learning culture, where employees are always upskilling and improving. Demonstrating a well-managed change process can develop trust that will serve your business and culture well the next time something needs to be adjusted.
• Avoiding repeats of errors and incidents for a better safety record and less recovery cost.
• Improved ROI on any effort spent resolving issues and incidents—a proven process for closing out and corrective action means effort is not wasted, and proper change management reduces the chance of setbacks like the port incident mentioned above.

All of the above benefits add up to, simply, better business: profit, productivity, and growth.

 

Putting change management into action

You can make plans and policies till the cows come home—implementing it is where the impact will truly be felt. As you make your plans a reality, consider these important aspects of the process:  

• Understand what is changing. Know and be sure of the reasons behind the change. If you are proposing and encouraging the change, you must be solid in your understanding of it and why it is happening. Where are you starting, and where will you end up? This is a simple but important first step, and it’s often forgotten or overlooked.
• Ensure you also understand what will be affected by the change in terms of operations and processes, whether documented or otherwise. Be thorough! We once worked with an organisation with maybe 25 systems, including one very old DOS-based one. A new flash system was being developed to modernise and streamline. One field linked to the old DOS system; the steering group decided it was meaningless and to decomission this particular field and back end process. A red flag was raised (the raiser becoming quite unpopular in the process) and it came out that to proceed would have crashed the global sales system.
• Figure out whether this change directly affects any job descriptions or employment agreements. Will it alter or increase the responsibilities of any teams or individuals? Communicating this to those affected is very important, and also part of your obligations under employment law. Is anyone affected up or downstream of the change? What are the far-reaching effects?
• Consider whether stepped change is most appropriate in the specific situation. It can be tempting to get it done all at once, but that can create other issues.
• Perhaps most importantly, don’t leave your communication regarding the change and implementation to chance. Consult those who will be affected or involved and take their feedback seriously. Seek their buy-in. Update people frequently.

 

Standardising and stabilising after introducing change or corrective action is crucial. That means there should be an evaluation period which is long enough that you can ascertain the results or consequences of the change before adding to it. 

Adding change upon change can result in change fatigue. Teams have a natural tendency to respond to change in a forming, storming, and norming way; the storming phase is finding their feet and the pecking order, plus a bit of trial and error as the process is adapted to suit. Evaluating during this phase, before normalising has happened, is less than ideal. Your communications should reflect the fact that you’re prepared for things to go wrong or for patience to be tested during an adjustment period. Extend grace to the team as they navigate it. Offer understanding and ask for honest feedback

Internal change and consultation practices often actually mimic common sales processes. We fact find, quote, adjust, formally propose or supply contractual terms, revise or negotiate, and then finalise the deal. It might help to keep this in mind as you navigate the process; to take the perspective of “selling” the change to your team.

TL;DR: Manage change effectively

Taking corrective action, and managing change that results from this or any other impetus, is crucial to the ongoing success and survival of your business. Things change; it’s important to be able to handle the change without too much disturbance. Good corrective action and change management can result in better engagement and culture, fewer repeated errors (and avoiding the legal ramifications of repeat incidents), and improved ROI for any time spent resolving issues and incidents.

To bask in those benefits, you should:

• Understand what is changing plus who and what will be affected, including policies and job descriptions. Knowledge is power.
• Know and be sure of the reasons behind the change, and communicate these effectively to your teams.
• Consider options like stepped change.
• Don’t leave comms to chance. Consult, consider feedback, seek buy-in. Give frequent updates.
• Allow for a period of standardising and stabilising to avoid change fatigue.

Seek help

When it comes to seamless change in your organisation, getting it right the first time is essential; it saves time, money, and effort. Solid partnership and guidance during the critical implementation phase ensures your great initiative doesn’t falter due to avoidable missteps in change management.

At Emendas, our engagement with organisations is centred on building internal capability—not just managing change for one project but equipping your team with the skills and confidence to navigate and sustain change well into the future. By creating tailored tools and frameworks unique to your business, we ensure you’re not only ready for the changes at hand but also prepared to manage and evaluate change for years to come. Let’s work together to build a foundation for success. Get in touch!