The importance of change management in digital transformations
What is digital transformation?
“Nothing is permanent except change”. HERACLITE
All companies know that today it is essential to digitalize many projects to be more competitive and respond to society’s new imperatives. But transformation means changes. For this transition to work, it is first necessary for all internal collaborators to be cooperative and to be able to meet their needs most appropriately.
In this article, we will address the issue of change management and the key steps that need to be implemented for a digital transformation project to be successful.
John Kotter popularized the theme of leading change with the publication of his book Leading Change in 1996. All the operations are put in place to help the company and its employees adapt to all the new changes and developments. Kotter believes that management is the main key to change: the project must have the internal approval of all managers.
Change management in digital transformation can be divided into four key steps:
1- Defining the objectives of the transformation
2- Identify the potential gaps
3- Create a roadmap for the different changes
4- Implement and manage the change at every level of the company
All these 4 components are the keys to success for a good digital transformation.
The role of change management in digital transformation
Projects are moving faster and faster, technologies are evolving daily, and roles are constantly changing. These are the reasons why Change Management is more and more famous.
Resistance is a natural reaction to change. This is why it is important to dedicate people to managing it. One of the most common mistakes is to underestimate change, its impacts, and possible resistance. Too many organizations think that if most workers are in favor of the change, there is no need for support.
What the company often forgets is to take time to explain why the change is important, and to specify what the change will concretely involve for each employee. If we can’t answer their questions quickly, they will resist. This is where the hierarchy or the person in charge of change management comes in.
The journey of change is always difficult and uncertain, that’s why the concept of change management is to plan, implement and monitor changes within the organization. Change management should help employees and stakeholders accept and understand the change process.
Change management is essential if you want to increase the chances of the project being accepted within the company.
In this study, Bain underlined that only 12% of companies that launch major change initiatives fully achieve their goals. But it also highlights that risks are predictive and can be managed.
Successful projects are projects in which companies put people in charge of change. Here are the key steps to implement a digital transformation project by integrating change management:
How to manage change during digital transformation?
“The species that survive are not the strongest, but those that adapt”. DARWIN
How many times have you heard employees protesting: “Oh no… again? We were organized like this five years ago and we saw that it didn’t work”, and also: “Another new tool? Another new method to follow? Yet another new process to follow….?!
This feeling of saturation generates resistance in various forms: lack of understanding, refusal to cooperate, loss of reference points, etc., which slows down the company’s transformations and has a more or less negative impact on the motivation and commitment of employees and managers.
Many companies, aware of both the challenges and the difficulties of implementing change, have decided to integrate Change Management skills to successfully carry out their transformations.
Indeed, communication is one of the most important aspects. Engage and involve employees to facilitate change. However, it is easier to convince a person when she can express herself and feels that she is being listened to. This is called participative management. The best way to involve employees in change is to show that they are building it, not undergoing it. They can then give their opinion and communicate their expectations and fears. For the manager, this allows him to recover his team’s real feelings and adapt the way of leading the change.
Conclusion
To conclude, it is important to reassure employees. Most people associate change with the loss of something (benefits, time, status). Giving meaning to the change and describing it is important but is even more important to describe and share widely what will not change.
Do not underestimate resistance to change, take the time to understand the reasons for it and find the levers to respond to it. Any change takes time and ownership by those involved.
It is up to the manager to be patient and to listen to the employees to support the initiatives relating to the management of change. Taking the human factor into account is essential, even a priority. Managing change in this way gives the project the best chance of success.
And you, have you already experienced a change project in your company? How did you cope with change? Tell me in the comments your feedback!
About this article
This article has been written by a student on the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Strategy Management. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminating the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DSM.
