Lately we published the book Purchasing Transformation, which covers the necessary changes for a purchasing department to cope with the actual challenges of the global economy. When it comes to implement changes within an organization, one of the main drivers are still the people, who are supposed to adopt. According to the Handelsblatt businesss monitor, Europe’s top managers are displeased with their organizations when it comes to the ability to change. (The other main showstoppers are the qualification of the executives as well as the lack of customer focus).
In my opinion, the reason for that is that most executives are not focused on the human factor, when it comes to conduct changes in a big organization. First of all, they have already done the change process themselves: they understand already, that a change is necessary and they know, what they want to change and how they want to achieve it. They forget very often to communicate these findings to their employees. What does the market look like, what do we want to achieve with the new strategy, how do do we want to achieve it?
Besides communication, you have to understand, what is happening to people, when there is change going on. A good model was developed by the psychologist Cynthia Scott. People confronted with change go through four phases: ignorance, resistance, explanation and finally acceptance. The speed at which these phases are completed varies substantially from person to person. It is important that each of these four phases should be accepted and that active support should be provided.
Some very good inspirations about change can be found in the book “Who moved my Cheese” by Spencer Johnson. In the style of a parable, it describes how to anticipate, monitor and adapt to change. Actually, I would give that book to every new employee in my company. As soon, as you have the right attitude in a organization, enjoying change becomes a part of the culture.
