Change Management for companies: Methods & solutions in change projects

Change Management encompasses all the steps involved in changing organizations, IT systems, strategies, values and behaviours in companies.

Changes cannot be stopped, but they can be managed successfully. And this is exactly what Change Management is all about: together with our clients, we adapt structures, processes, systems and much more to new, changing market conditions. But only if the adaptation is carried out with the help of a proven change process will the people affected by the change not feel excluded. Only then will managers, employees and shareholders perceive the change as a success for themselves and a benefit for the entire company.

Our Change Management makes use of the fact that every change process always goes through very similar Change Management phases. This has already been well documented by scientific theory and studies on change management. Combined with our extensive practical experience and the latest findings from brain research, we can plan most tasks, measures and activities in advance. We then accompany the implementation, adapt measures on an ad hoc basis, measure success and successfully complete the change process.

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01 Our Change offer at a glance

Since our foundation, we have dedicated ourselves to the topic of Change Management and have naturally been inspired by numerous approaches to change. Whether Kotter, ADCAR or PCI: each of these models has its strengths in practice - but also its weaknesses. This inevitably led us to develop our own change methods.


Over the years, we have developed our own CPC approach: tried and tested, without theoretical baggage, business-oriented and based on the latest findings from brain research. In short: an offer with which we lead Change Management projects from A to Z to success.


We recommend the Change Initiation as the initial project scope. The measures defined there can then be accompanied and implemented by us with "Change Implementation".

Change Initiation

With Change Initiation, we offer a package of four simple, highly effective modules to analyze and plan your change:

 

  • Change Analysis: With the help of Change Legacy, we analyze your experience with previous change initiatives. With Change Impact, we record which areas are affected by the change and how the transformation affects them.
  • Development of the change story: Together with the initiating sponsors and key players of the change project, we define the target picture for the transformation. From this, we develop a change story that explains the need for change, the target state and the path to get there.
  • Change Network Map: We create transparency about the network between the stakeholders affected by the change. We use the change network map to identify and define local sponsors, change agents and influencers.
  • Change architecture: We create the change architecture based on the results of the analysis, the target image and the network map. It contains all the derived measures that will lead your project to success.
 

Change initiation has proven itself many times over and is indispensable for any change project. It lays the foundation for fully exploiting the potential of your change project. We then recommend our Change Implementation for the implementation of the change.

Change Implementation

With Change Implementation, we offer a package of seven highly effective modules to implement your change and lead it to success:

  • Change Management Office: As the point of contact for change expertise, the Change Management Office forms the counterpart to Program Management. It is responsible for managing the transformation and ensures acceptance, commitment and sustainability
  • Change communication: With target group-oriented communication campaigns, we provide the affected stakeholders with information, impart knowledge and make the transformation tangible. We also make large and small successes visible. Change leadership: We support the Guiding Coalition in living out the shared vision and acting as a driver of change. We also empower managers to actively shape and drive change
  • Change leadership: We support the Guiding Coalition in living out the shared vision and acting as a driver of change. We also empower managers to actively shape and drive change.
  • Change Agent Network: We recruit some of the affected employees and build up a network of co-creators. We empower these multipliers and implement local change measures together with them.
  • User communities: We build user communities that support each other throughout the entire transformation process. In this way, we create a platform for the effective exchange of knowledge, best practices and information.
  • Training & enabling management: We develop a customized training plan for the various employees concerned. In order to generate "aha" effects, we create customized experience formats, training and enabling measures.
  • Institutionalization: We ensure that the change know-how is anchored in the organization and that the change can be repeated without external help. We celebrate the successful transformation with everyone involved in a town hall meeting.
Change implementation allows you to fully exploit the potential of your change project. You achieve sustainable change in the company because your employees understand, support and help shape the company's new direction.

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02 The new formula for Change Management

Although there are often claims to the contrary, people and therefore organizations do not like to change. People then talk about the "inner bastard that they have to overcome". And in companies, managers say: "We are a tanker and not a speedboat." These are clear signs of resistance, and it's not surprising. After all, resistance is part of Change Management by definition. Not only can we expect it - we have to expect it when it comes to change.

 

But now comes the positive news: resistance is a good thing - we need it to move forward. After all, this is how people and companies decide whether it is worth fighting for change and taking on hardships.
Brain research also suggests that resistance helps people to preserve their patterns of success and only replace them under special conditions. After all, these patterns have meant that we are still alive as a species - so we have done everything right. That's why we don't simply throw the tried and tested overboard for something that we don't even know is successful yet.

 

Applied to companies, this means that our organization, our systems, strategies, values and behaviours have made us great and successful. We want to and will protect this with good intentions. That is why the all-important question of Change Management is: What do people in organizations need to overcome resistance and embrace something new? What needs to be considered when organizations want or even have to change previously proven patterns of success?

Our new formula for change shows what needs to be considered if organizations want to overcome resistance.

Anne Babilon-Teubenbacher

Partner at CPC

Our "New Formula for Change" answers this question. It consists of four variables. Only when all four "ingredients" are present in sufficient quantities can resistance be overcome and change succeed.

03 Success factor "Security in change projects"

S stands for safety - in the sense of the absence of fear. People who are under stress cannot learn. It has been scientifically proven that the stress hormone cortisol inhibits the brain's ability to learn. And it is the same with organizations: stressed organizations do not learn. If companies are only ever concerned with survival, people cannot develop new behaviors. This contradicts many a management view - for example: "If I stress my employees enough, they will change."

 

But the exact opposite is the case: creating security is a top management task. Because people can only change in an organization in which managers provide psychological security.

 


Many managers reply at this point: "That doesn't work, I can't give my employees 100% certainty. Because without pressure, team performance will plummet." But people have learned to deal with pressure all their lives. Pressure can even be a positive motivator to change. However, the limit is crossed when the pressure is so high that people become afraid. Then the brain switches to survival mode, releases cortisol and thus prevents learning.

People need security so that they can learn.

Michael Kempf

Partner at CPC

The tricky thing about fear is that it is very individual and does not follow any rules. Managers need to look at where each individual team member stands. This is the only way they can guide the entire team and ultimately the entire organization through the change.

 

Security is therefore a necessary organizational prerequisite for Change Management.

Experiences from practice:

In a major reorganization project at a DAX40 company, most managers are seriously worried about their jobs. As a result, they are not in a position to learn. Then they are also expected to support their own employees in the change process. Mission Impossible.

The managers of a company are asked to teach their team a new sales method. The employees react differently in the first few weeks. Some find it exciting to question the "old" sales method. However, they are also very quickly disappointed because success is not immediate. Other employees initially react dismissively or even cynically. But the managers stay on the ball and keep motivating them to try out the new ways of working.

In a major change project, management repeatedly uses warlike associations and terms. "There will be casualties" and "We have to win this battle" are typical statements. They are surprised that people are not interested in the change. Only when they throw the fear language overboard and communicate security, build tension and motivate employees do they win them over.

A large DAX-listed company involves numerous employees in the change process with the help of the so-called "organizational workshop". This is where they get to know the new processes and roles. In the one-day practical workshop, the employees try out the new processes using typical business transactions and practise their own new role. The format conveys the advantages of the changes and allows the disadvantages to be addressed openly. This provides security - both for the employees and for those responsible for the concept.

04 Success factor "Focus on the change project"

Change Management cannot be achieved simply and succinctly on the side. However, change works very well with F - for focus. For example, if organizations want to change the way they work together but don't focus on it, things will happen as they always have. The likelihood of anything changing in this mode is zero. So what is needed? Companies need maximum focus on change. But who gives a company focus?

 

First of all, it is the board members and sponsors who direct the organization's focus to a specific topic. Through their involvement in the change story and their presence at information events on the change, employees realize that the topic is important. In this context, we also talk about the "Guiding Coalition", which drives and promotes change. This also means that board members and sponsors are continuously involved, keep working on the change and demand things.

Of course, managers also play a key role in "giving focus". Because only if managers focus on change will their teams realize that the topic is important.

 


However, a serious problem for successful change is that the focus of the board and therefore also of the managers shifts. Organizations regularly fall into the trap of slowing down too quickly and tackling too many issues at the same time How likely is it that the change will be carried through to the end if the focus disappears? Very high. Therefore, one of the Change Management main tasks is to ensure focus and attention until the end of the project.

 


An important signal from the Management Board that it is focusing on the change project is the composition of the change team. Changes need a team consisting of sponsors, managers and specialists who really stand behind the change. The team design signals to all employees of an organization how much the company wants the change and thus determines the success of the change.

When board members and managers focus on the change project from start to finish, change succeeds.

Michael Babilon-Teubenbacher

Partner at CPC

This also applies in particular to the appointment of project managers and change agents: ideally, the sponsors should fill the position of the project manager with a great talent. After all, the planning of the overall project is critical to the success of the change. And change agents should not be recruited on the basis of "Who has time right now?" Instead, a top-class team of change agents shows: "The change has our full focus. That's why we identified employees at an early stage - as real ambassadors for the change project and as drivers of change."

Experiences from practice:

A change project should always be started in a phase in which the company is doing really well and the employees have energy. This is the perfect starting point for initiating change. Implementing change in a situation of total overload is much more difficult. How do change projects still succeed in times of crisis? By ensuring that the company concerned is well resourced - for example, by hiring experienced external project managers or consultants to take care of training management.

05 Success factor "Goals of the transformation"

Goals are important in order to assess the difference to the initial situation and to know what is still missing. People in companies need a clearly defined goal so that they can see that they have improved by six percent, for example, but are still nine percent short. This allows them to assess whether they have demonstrably made progress and how many steps still need to be taken. If the goal is vague or consists of wishful thinking, organizations will fail. This is because the people involved need clear feedback that the efforts are worthwhile.

 

In addition, the goal must benefit the people and the organization. An unattractive goal is very difficult, almost impossible, to achieve. The art of Change Management is to formulate a goal that is attractive to the organization, especially at the beginning of the change. The change only has a chance of success if all employees say: "This is worthwhile - I'm happy to do it, even if it's difficult." Typical efficiency improvement targets, ideally combined with the intention of mainly making shareholders happy, are generally of no interest to employees. Everyone has to get something out of it, otherwise successful change will be difficult. Defining goals in such a way that they are attractive to all stakeholders is an important success factor for Change Management.

Goals should also not be formulated in "management language", but should be simple and understandable for everyone involved. Otherwise, employees will not see themselves as part of the change and will not find any points of reference.

 


People have values. The goals of a company are attractive to many people, otherwise they would have chosen a different company. It therefore makes sense to link the transformation goals with the values of the organization. This ensures greater acceptance among many people - even in the case of unpleasant transformations. For this important work, companies need the help of change specialists who have mastered this translation work and the tools of their trade.

What we believe in at CPC are goals that have a direct impact on the business.

Gunnar Schultze

Partner at CPC

What we believe in at CPC are goals that have a direct impact on the business. For example, we do not believe it makes sense for a company to change its culture just because it is currently in vogue. A changed culture must be profitable for the business. Change projects without a link to business success will not survive in the organization and will therefore not succeed.

06 Success factor "Highlighting change successes"

Which behaviors do we retain? The ones that make us successful. We forget the ones that don't make us successful. The fatal thing about this, however, is that most people need a very long time to store a new behavior as a pattern of success. Until then, how do we determine whether something new could be successful? If it feels good. This is one of the biggest opportunities - but also pitfalls of Change Management: because change typically doesn't feel good at first. That's why there is resistance. But it feels good for people to simply carry on as before.

 

In order for an upcoming change to feel good for employees, we need to help: by pointing out to people that the new, desired behaviors are successful. And this is where managers come into play. Their job is to praise employees and point out differences: "Look, that was a small step, but we took this step together." "Did you notice where we were last month and where we are today?" In this way, employees gradually develop an awareness that the change is a success that feels good.

For change to be successful, it is essential to involve managers in the change process and plan special communication measures for them. However, changes are often communicated far too abstractly. It remains unclear what the real impact on the company's culture will be and how day-to-day work will change. However, managers in the dual role of those affected by and role models for change need clarity in order to guide their employees through the change process.

Key figures are also helpful in making success visible. Some key figures are suitable for reading off success directly: "Our satisfaction score has improved". Other key figures may not change at first: "New orders are still stagnating in sales, but at least the number of inquiries is increasing." Every little bit of progress must be visible to employees. This increases the likelihood that they will save the change as a successful pattern.


Change Management also involves planning successes together with the program management and the Executive Board and setting up the project accordingly. After all, how likely is it that people will see a change through for two years without any interim successes? It is zero. That's why we use a suitable change architecture to "slice" the change in such a way that the organization regularly experiences measurable success.


Teaming is also important for the perception of success. Within the team, employees typically talk about things that are going well, but also about things that are going badly. Based on the change curve, team members can fall into a hole at very different times. It is then good for the team to talk about it and for employees to remind each other of what they have achieved so far.


Celebrating also feels positive for people. If, for example, a new culture is to develop, the smallest changes can be used as an opportunity: management recognizes small and large successes with awards, which are also reported on the intranet. Regular success stories confirm that the change is working. At the end of an important phase and the entire change, the Management Board duly honors the efforts of those involved in the change in a town hall meeting. All of this ensures that people and the organization stay on board.

Discuss your project with us:

Discuss your project with us:

Discuss your project with us:

Discuss your project with us:

Discuss your project with us: