making-sense-of-change-management

The applicationsnew way of doing things. How will the proposed changes benefit stakeholders?Will customers, partners, staff and suppliers really feel a positivedifference? If some parties are going to lose out, how will youhandle this?Remember that the how is as important as the whatCulture is about the way you do things around the organization. So ifyour organization has a set of core values, and of course it does explicitlyor implicitly, then you need to be managing the cultural change in linewith these values. If you say one thing but do another then you might aswell give up now. For instance, a stated value of ‘integrity’ is ratherhollow if senior managers do not keep their promises, or fail to explainwhy the plan has changed.Build on the old, and step into the newIf you want to shift the organization from one way of doing things to anew way of doing things then you will need to see and do things from avariety of perspectives. Any current culture, like any person, will havepositive and negative features. You will need to retain and build on thecurrent strengths and ensure that you do not throw the baby out with thebathwater. You will also need to start right now in modelling aspects ofthe new culture – if you want a coaching culture then start coaching; ifyou want people to be empowered then start empowering! Now is alsothe opportunity to step outside of the bubble that you’re in. No one everchanged a culture by simply drawing up plans and listing requiredbehaviours, so now is the time to be creative, do things in different waysand learn from people outside of the system.Generate enabling mechanismsIt is important to generate enabling mechanisms such as reward systemsand planning and performance management systems that support theobjectives and preferred behaviours of the new culture. For example, thismeans ensuring that teams have clear objectives that are closely alignedto organizational objectives.260