Change management principles

There are a number of principles that underly effective change management. The following principles are easy to outline but harder to put into place consistently depending on the leadership approach and the culture of the organisation in which you work. I said hard but not impossible so bear this in mind. Typically in most customer centric organisations which link strongly the Employees ---> Customer ---->Financial outcomes, these principles are easier to align to.

However as a Change facilitator it is important to state the principles that you are working to, and here are some I would recommend you could align your practices to, to enable the best outcomes for your change strategies:

1. Respect to be shown to all. This is critical. At times where emotions run high with large transformational change, this principle can be forgotten. If all are staff and customers are treated equally and with respect, better outcomes are achieved even if the change has negative impacts. Have respect as a foundation principle and there will be rewards.

2. Focus on strengths-based thinking. Often it is too easy to expect the worst or focus on the areas of challenge within an organisation, rather than to note down the areas of strengths that the organisation displays and aligning your change practices. Link the change interventions to the strengths of the teams impacted and you will experience a smoother and more effective implementation. In addition to this if you haven't yet explored the world of Appreciate enquiry, I suggest you do some research. Such a great approach.

3. Early engagement. Engage the right people in designing the solution and the change approach. Human centred design is a great practice to explore. Truly placing the impacted staff and customers at the centre of the solution design, and engaging the right people in the comprehensive change plan and one that already has engagement at the centre and will succeed.

4. Empowerment: Empower everyone from top down to participate in the change. Support leaders in building the story, provide the right support material, facilitate the creative and sometimes uncomfortable conversations. Empower the business to do the same on changes they are introducing. Empowering the impacted individuals to make informed choices regarding the change, inspiring them where possible to participate in the changes is a core principle.  

5. Business ownership: Change is to be facilitated with the business leading the business through the change.  The business success is the change teams success. This is also a core principle which is one of the hardest to implement within an organisation that isn't far along the change maturity spectrum but it is a core principle to be communicated and aligned to in the change approaches being applied. 

These are principles that we focus on and depending on the organisation we work within there are varying levels of success due to maturity in these areas. You can create your own principles but it is important to have some that you and your team are aligning to.