Managing Change: Not Always an Easy Task
25 January 2012
Read by 1999 persons
These transformation projects place human capital at the heart of the company's goals.
Managing change is not an easy task for top management. And for good reason: in addition to defining a new strategy, employee involvement remains the cornerstone of successful corporate transformation. This is how change management puts human capital at the heart of the company's plans. Some companies understand this and do things properly, while others have grasped it too late, often to their detriment.
As a result, some restructurings fail, or mergers and acquisitions falter, causing enormous losses of money and time for the company. Furthermore, these transformation projects often cause headaches for managers who are forced to implement changes in line with the economic, political, or international situation.
"Before, companies were reluctant to undertake change. Now, with a dynamic Morocco, there are managers who implement one or more change policies each year to achieve their strategy and improve performance," said Assia Aiouch, CEO of Optimum Conseil. At this level, each company adopts the transformation it wants. Indeed, some operators want to implement a strategic vision, while others want to adjust their roadmap and revisit their objectives to follow market evolution. To do this, human capital regains its importance, because it is the employees, if they are involved from the start, who will carry the project and ensure its implementation.
"To succeed, managers must be the leaders of the companies who will motivate and unite the teams," specifies Assia Aiouch. Sometimes there is internal resistance, but good communication is enough to avoid any sabotage or lack of adherence to this large-scale project. Good support and better internal communication at each phase of the project are necessary to succeed in this challenge. Also, to put all the odds in their favor, companies call on human resources consulting firms to support them throughout the process. According to change management specialists, in 2012, all companies are opening up to change.
An à la carte offerOptimum Conseil has just launched, for the first time in Morocco, a complete change management offer called O'Change, whose objective is to support companies in their transformation projects. This new, tailor-made offer consists in supporting companies in the success of their transformation projects through several actions, namely: defining a meaningful vision and supporting the deployment of the strategy, designing and implementing transformation projects, supporting management in the phases of change, and mobilizing people during periods of development or restructuring.
Furthermore, the firm plans to launch a change management barometer in partnership with the French institute Via Voice. The periodicity of this publication remains to be determined.
-----------------------------------
"Involve managers so they champion the project"
Expert opinion • Mounia Benhida, professional coach and associate director of Optimum Conseil
Faced with a changing environment, companies have little choice: either they change their "modus operandi" or they fail. In the current context, is change management an easy task for a boss or a manager?
In a difficult and constantly changing economic context, Moroccan companies must strive to implement change policies to achieve their strategy and improve their performance. This has become an unavoidable necessity, a necessary "management way" for business leaders, because change is no longer a cyclical phenomenon, but a permanent reality. The economic context in which we find ourselves does not make the task easy for managers. However, it can also be seen as a real opportunity to rethink the organization, the way of working, management methods, etc. It is also an opportunity to remobilize employees around a common goal, sufficiently important for the future of the company and its employees.
How can bosses convince their employees to switch to new objectives?
Communicate, provide visibility, involve... We will never stop recommending that managers not "economize on communication"! The acceptance of change comes from a good understanding of the people affected and who are questioning. The involvement of employees to co-define objectives is also an essential element to get them to adhere to new objectives.
What are the most commonly used means to motivate teams?
All the actions that lead to the mobilization of teams generate motivation: performance-based remuneration, cohesion and mobilization seminars, responsibility for internal or cross-functional projects…
What points should a manager not neglect?
In general, we raise managers' awareness of 5 key principles of change management:
1- Gaining buy-in: the first step to take, buy-in is not obtained without informing employees and explaining the merits of the changes. It relies on the mobilization of all energies around the same objective: transforming the company. The enemy to fight: resistance to change.
2- Listening and involving managers so that they champion the project and get their teams to buy into it.
3- Communicate: communication is a determining element in the success of a change project, whatever its scale and impact. It is a key element that gives meaning and visibility.
4- Mobilize and involve teams: it is essential, at one stage of the project, that it is the result of the participation of employees in the company project. Hence the need to coordinate the different teams studying the project and to ensure great transversality in the composition of the working groups.
5- Master time: change management cannot be limited to project management alone, as past failures have shown, particularly because this approach does not integrate the human risk. In form, change management is not a project to be approached like others. In its implementation, it requires even more rigor than a standard project. Time management is a key issue that managers must never lose sight of.
Should you seek help from external consultants or is it a task that can be done internally?
Supporting companies in their change management is a common practice in Europe or Anglo-Saxon countries. In Morocco, companies are beginning to open up to this type of support, as they are becoming aware that it is essential to manage change rather than suffer it. For our part, we have been supporting and advising companies in the management and piloting of their change strategies for 14 years. We have noted a real evolution in management practices and company strategies in favor of a positive, constructed and well-thought-out change dynamic.
Nadia DREF.
Lematin.ma
Published January 15, 2012.
Posted online January 25, 2012.
Managing change is not an easy task for top management. And for good reason: in addition to defining a new strategy, employee involvement remains the cornerstone of successful corporate transformation. This is how change management puts human capital at the heart of the company's plans. Some companies understand this and do things properly, while others have grasped it too late, often to their detriment.
As a result, some restructurings fail, or mergers and acquisitions falter, causing enormous losses of money and time for the company. Furthermore, these transformation projects often cause headaches for managers who are forced to implement changes in line with the economic, political, or international situation.
"Before, companies were reluctant to undertake change. Now, with a dynamic Morocco, there are managers who implement one or more change policies each year to achieve their strategy and improve performance," said Assia Aiouch, CEO of Optimum Conseil. At this level, each company adopts the transformation it wants. Indeed, some operators want to implement a strategic vision, while others want to adjust their roadmap and revisit their objectives to follow market evolution. To do this, human capital regains its importance, because it is the employees, if they are involved from the start, who will carry the project and ensure its implementation.
"To succeed, managers must be the leaders of the companies who will motivate and unite the teams," specifies Assia Aiouch. Sometimes there is internal resistance, but good communication is enough to avoid any sabotage or lack of adherence to this large-scale project. Good support and better internal communication at each phase of the project are necessary to succeed in this challenge. Also, to put all the odds in their favor, companies call on human resources consulting firms to support them throughout the process. According to change management specialists, in 2012, all companies are opening up to change.
An à la carte offerOptimum Conseil has just launched, for the first time in Morocco, a complete change management offer called O'Change, whose objective is to support companies in their transformation projects. This new, tailor-made offer consists in supporting companies in the success of their transformation projects through several actions, namely: defining a meaningful vision and supporting the deployment of the strategy, designing and implementing transformation projects, supporting management in the phases of change, and mobilizing people during periods of development or restructuring.
Furthermore, the firm plans to launch a change management barometer in partnership with the French institute Via Voice. The periodicity of this publication remains to be determined.
-----------------------------------
"Involve managers so they champion the project"
Expert opinion • Mounia Benhida, professional coach and associate director of Optimum Conseil
Faced with a changing environment, companies have little choice: either they change their "modus operandi" or they fail. In the current context, is change management an easy task for a boss or a manager?
In a difficult and constantly changing economic context, Moroccan companies must strive to implement change policies to achieve their strategy and improve their performance. This has become an unavoidable necessity, a necessary "management way" for business leaders, because change is no longer a cyclical phenomenon, but a permanent reality. The economic context in which we find ourselves does not make the task easy for managers. However, it can also be seen as a real opportunity to rethink the organization, the way of working, management methods, etc. It is also an opportunity to remobilize employees around a common goal, sufficiently important for the future of the company and its employees.
How can bosses convince their employees to switch to new objectives?
Communicate, provide visibility, involve... We will never stop recommending that managers not "economize on communication"! The acceptance of change comes from a good understanding of the people affected and who are questioning. The involvement of employees to co-define objectives is also an essential element to get them to adhere to new objectives.
What are the most commonly used means to motivate teams?
All the actions that lead to the mobilization of teams generate motivation: performance-based remuneration, cohesion and mobilization seminars, responsibility for internal or cross-functional projects…
What points should a manager not neglect?
In general, we raise managers' awareness of 5 key principles of change management:
1- Gaining buy-in: the first step to take, buy-in is not obtained without informing employees and explaining the merits of the changes. It relies on the mobilization of all energies around the same objective: transforming the company. The enemy to fight: resistance to change.
2- Listening and involving managers so that they champion the project and get their teams to buy into it.
3- Communicate: communication is a determining element in the success of a change project, whatever its scale and impact. It is a key element that gives meaning and visibility.
4- Mobilize and involve teams: it is essential, at one stage of the project, that it is the result of the participation of employees in the company project. Hence the need to coordinate the different teams studying the project and to ensure great transversality in the composition of the working groups.
5- Master time: change management cannot be limited to project management alone, as past failures have shown, particularly because this approach does not integrate the human risk. In form, change management is not a project to be approached like others. In its implementation, it requires even more rigor than a standard project. Time management is a key issue that managers must never lose sight of.
Should you seek help from external consultants or is it a task that can be done internally?
Supporting companies in their change management is a common practice in Europe or Anglo-Saxon countries. In Morocco, companies are beginning to open up to this type of support, as they are becoming aware that it is essential to manage change rather than suffer it. For our part, we have been supporting and advising companies in the management and piloting of their change strategies for 14 years. We have noted a real evolution in management practices and company strategies in favor of a positive, constructed and well-thought-out change dynamic.
Nadia DREF.
Lematin.ma
Published January 15, 2012.
Posted online January 25, 2012.
