Jacob Apple a brand that does not need a survey as proof to talk, its name can speak for itself. Isn’t that powerful? Reflecting upon Apple’s successful change management, few people brush off that fact thinking Steve Jobs landed a lucky strike, while other people understand the efforts, time, and proficiency that he has invested in his business. Apple is a perfect illustration of a change management process turned effective.
It is undeniable that successful companies have never faced change cycles. No one is born a business expert. Alongside your education, you will always learn more from experiences and failures. There was a time when Apple almost went bankrupt, but are still thriving, it is because of their ability to manage this change process and turn it effective.
Although it is not easy to believe the fact that one of the world’s largest companies by means of capitalization in the market once was in dire straits. Back in 1997, when Apple came on the edge of bursting. They faced a massive loss of one billion dollars when a line of products such as the Newton Message Pad, the Palm Pilot, and a few more was not perceived well in the market and failed to generate profits. However, with a 150 million investment by Bill Gates’ Microsoft, Apple saw a ray of hope in backing up their company.
Not only Apple, but several other companies like Marvel Entertainment has also faced a drastic change in 1996. Beginning, Marvel was not into movie production and worked exclusively on comics. It made some impact but now, they stand stronger than ever.
How do you think these companies managed to make these changes productive? How did they come out of it and sustained? Essential elements to practice in order to manage and fight back the change process are as follows:
- Identify what is to be improved.
- Present a rock-solid business case to the stakeholders
- Plan for the change
- Provide the resources and use data for evaluation
- Keep a solid communication with employees, management, partners, or vendors
- Monitor and manage dependencies, resistance, and budgeting risks
- Review, revise and keep improving continuously to avoid mishaps
- Acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the success
Change is necessary for growth and a leader, team or management can not skip it in any way. Change keeps happening but it is more vital to understand how you deal with it, either by embracing it and working over it to shape the growth for your business or learning nothing at all. Change can come in different forms, through technology, new compliance issues, or process updates. There are a few supporting tools and components that can help implement a successful change management process. These tools are often developed and managed internally by either the change management team or stakeholders of the change management process. These may include:
- Business case
A business case is a formal and organized document that includes the story of a project or task, right from reasoning to approach. In the change management space, the business case can go far in creating a backup and buy-in. It helps gain credibility, understand what gives more results in the project, and makes the change management tangible for the audience.
- Resistance management
Resistance can be useful to cater to the change management process if it is practiced the right way. as per Prosci’s change management practices:
- Expect the resistance to change
- Engage the right resistance managers
- Do change management right the first time
- Address resistance formally
- Identify the root cause
- Training tutorials and education sessions
The training programs or sessions can be of great help for change management. It is important to educate your team and build an agile structure in order to manage and be adaptable towards change.
- Product or business roadmaps
A business roadmap or a change roadmap is a method that is utilized to plan an effective strategy to cater to the change in an organization.
- Post mortem review
In order to help your team learn and identify what they have done right and what is that needs improvement and can be done better, a post mortem review is conducted. It helps your organization and your team manage the change process.
- Readiness assessment
A readiness assessment is a set of assignments or tasks that you complete to recognize how arranged and prepared the organization is for a specific change.
Going through a change management process swiftly is something you have to handle. Celebrate your successes, keep your employees connected, never put a stop to improvements. Keep track and identify what needs to be enhanced, review it again, revise it if required. Change is good, therefore plan for change. Successful companies like Apple and Marvel Entertainment managed to change with patience and intellect leading to successful change management.
