Change Management and Innovation

Discover how to plan to prepare and support individuals to thrive through change and innovation within your organization.

Since the beginning of time the only constant in life has been change, however, when it comes to making change at an organization level, developing strategies to smoothly incorporate change in organizational processes while innovating and implementing new ideas can be a constant challenge.  

Through studies, research work and experiments, we have come to a basic understanding of change management as a complete plan and strategy to prepare, equip and support individuals to thrive through change within your organization, and how they can go through the following key components of the change process:

  1. Identify need of change and define approach.
  2. Plan, execute and track performance. 
  3. Sustain Outcomes.

Effective change management results in: 

  • Dynamic, fast-moving work environment paired with adequate training and employee buy-in 
  • Use of right digital tools for geographically dispersed teams 
  • Enhanced connection and communication tools result in improvised performance 
  • Increased job satisfaction due to upgraded skillset
  • Feeling connected to the top management due to effective top-down communication 
  • Reduced culture and communication gap between managerial and non-managerial roles
  • Effective communication using company-wide announcements from leadership to specific large groups

As more businesses are evolving and so are the business processes, it is the need of the hour to lead innovation streak head-on as opposed to shy away from change. As you drive change at your organization, it’s certainly important to know your desired destination and enlist the enthusiastic involvement of the right people. Along with ensuring the innovative ideas and implementation of modern solutions meet the business and operational needs of the organization, you will also need to create awareness that is targeted to your key audiences.  

Generating awareness is important for you to succeed, as it: 

  • Validates why change is needed and how it is helping the organization achieve its goals. 
  • Ensures everyone understands the importance of innovation. 
  • Helps generate enthusiasm among the users and those who are leading the implementation of new solutions. 
  • Gets everyone on board with using the new technology, provide feedback for further innovation and improvement.

Studies have found that the most successful way to generate awareness and spark excitement is to combine effective communication and engagement events, led by the executive sponsors and leadership within the organization.  

Leadership Engagement and Innovation: Key to Success 

Engaging the leadership roles in the change management and innovation of new solutions and technical processes are vital when it comes to how the users react to this change and how comfortable they feel towards adoption of new technologies and processes. 

Some of the reasons why are: 

  • Communication, when stemming from the executive level, generates enthusiasm and a sense of buy-in. 
  • Deploy a variety of tactics, including involvement and words of encouragement from top-down. 
  • Focus on the “What’s in it for me?” coming from the leadership develops a sense of belonging and being heard among the users. 

How this can be achieved is as important as the why above. Here are some suggestions based on Adoption and Change Management strategies developed and discussed across various industries: 

  • Tailor your plan to company and culture. 
  • Send out communication pre-launch, at launch, and post-launch. 
  • Engagement events like Town halls, live sessions, webinars bring engagement and enthusiasm. 
  • Engage Executive Sponsors to kick off launch to build understanding and commitment throughout the community. 
  • Staff events with IT and executive sponsors to communicate high-level vision and value of Microsoft 365. 

Transforming to a new way of working requires buy-in and support from across the business.  Involvement of leadership and executive roles will bridge the technology to the business outcomes for users. 

Want to Hear More? 

VNEXT iQ specialists have successfully delivered Adoption and Change Management strategies with customers from all industries, to ensure smooth implementations, migrations and successful tech innovations.

If you’d like to get support and consulting guidance to successfully implement new business solutions, reach out to our team of specialists here