Closing the change management gap

Abstract

Purpose

Change has always been hard. But now, change is becoming a constant. Defining change – identifying the new strategy, business model or process the organization needs to retain market share – is difficult enough. Leading the organization through change is even harder. The purpose of this paper is to use a combination of survey and case studies to measure organizations’ change maturity and provide guidance on how organizations can move from check-the-box approaches to ones that drive behavioral shifts.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on the combination of a broadcast survey and series of best practice case studies.

Findings

And while organizations have made strides in committing resources and planning for change, they continue to struggle with long-term, sustainable change. But what really creates sustainable change? Sustainable change means moving beyond “check-the-box” efforts – focused on the execution of communication plans and project milestones. Instead, organizations should bolster their efforts with a focus on leading, not just communicating, the change and engaging staff cooperatively to drive new behaviors.

Originality/value

This paper focuses on best practices that do more than require check-the-box adherence to a series of change activities and methodologies.

Citation

Lyke-Ho-Gland, H. (2019), "Closing the change management gap", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 168-175. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-04-2019-0030