Change can be an overwhelming word for some, but at its core, change in an office setting means taking a hard look at processes, structures, technology, and the use and psychology of space. Managing changes to these processes and spaces can be tough for organizations that have become comfy in their approach; especially when we remind ourselves that organizations don’t change – the people who make them successful do.

Today, we’re taking an in-depth look at how change management during an office transformation can benefit an organization by leveraging adaptations and updates to how it supports people.

 

What is Change Management?

In short, it’s an overarching discipline that guides how organizations and business entities prep, support, and supply individuals and teams with the tools they need to successfully embrace change that is geared towards the success, progression, and growth of the organization.

Change management is all about providing assistance and influencing individuals during their individual transitions. It’s a comprehensive approach that helps employees and teams to shift from familiar states of work into new territory.

 

The Benefits of Organizational Change Management

Change, in any sense, is only scary or overwhelming because it’s implied that change is involuntary, uncharted, and unplanned. People often associate change with the unknown, but the framework of change management takes the guesswork out of planned change, by implementing and using the benefits of the proposed changes as motivators and as an assessment of progress. Some of the most profound benefits of change management are as follows:

 

• This process is heavily planned and managed, helping ensure stability and reassuring individuals that positive things are coming.
• Helps to realign mismanaged, or underused resources within an organization to streamline operations and processes.
• It can be implemented into practice without negatively impacting day-to-day operations.
• It addresses the concerns and working styles of employees, improving organizational effectiveness and helping draw attention to hurdles and pain points.
• Implementation time is reduced, as is the potential for unsuccessful change.
• Change management creates the opportunity to develop more supportive and engaging best practices, team development processes, and leadership development qualities.

Perhaps the most profound and positive reinforcement of change management is the boosted confidence and performance of staff when they begin to understand the process is being implemented to address and support their concerns.

In a recent study, 65% of employees surveyed reported a wish for more feedback and communication at work, while a whopping 98% of employees agreed they’d feel disengaged when their organizations offer little or no feedback.

Here’s the thing, the primary benefit of implementing change management during and office transfiguration is recognizing the need for change and collectively agreeing there’s a specific way to help achieve the results you need to succeed. 78% of those same surveyed employees feel that being recognized motivates them to do good work.

 

How is it Used During an Office Transformation?

There are three major subsections of Change Management that discuss how an office would use the process. They are:

• Individual Change Management
• Organizational/Initiative Change Management
• Enterprise Change Management Capability

 

Individual Change Management takes a good, hard look at what tools and support individuals need to change successfully. It includes asking and understanding what kinds of messaging people need to hear on the human side of organizational transitions, but also when the perfect time is to introduce new skills and how to coach an individual to develop new adaptive behaviours and work habits.

Individual change management is used during an office transformation by tackling the psychology and science behind what helps people want to adopt new beneficial behaviours, and gives upper management the opportunity to coach those individuals.

Organizational/Initiative change management takes those ideals one step further to support groups or teams of people and adopts a complimentary project management feel to its process. It’s all about development of a project-specific plan that prioritizes those involved get the tools, resources, leadership, and work/life balance they need to successfully transition.

Next is enterprise change management capability, which holds at its core, the means for an organization to adapt to an ever-changing consumer, digital, and organizational landscape. It effectively integrates change management principles and processes into its internal structure, its roles, leadership qualities, and projects to continually shift and roll with the punches of competitive differentiation.

 

How Can Businesses Pivot & When is a Good Time?

Timing is everything when it comes to an office overhaul, but there are other times when change management may be imperative to the success of your organization, like during a major time of economic upheaval, or during a corporate merger.

Companies that are merging often run the risk of opposing staff and working rituals counteracting each other as two entities become one, and so having a plan in place to address, support, and lead individuals and groups of employees in the right direction becomes imperative to success.

Mergers in both the private and public sector are an interesting case, because they not only involve merging business models, information, revenues, tech, etc – they involve merging spaces and staff as well. Effectively managing two groups as one can be tough for obvious reasons, especially while understanding almost 70% of mergers fail.

It’s important to implement change management during a time when is causes as little disruption to the workforce as possible, while communicating and coaching them through the perceivable changes – like adding staff, changing direction, beginning a new project, or making major changes to the occupational structures that make up their everyday work environment.

 

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During an office transfiguration, change is all about finding ways to help employees and existing systems adapt to beneficial changes — and that means finding innovative and supportive ways to support people making personal transitions to how they work, how they interact with others, and how they perceive their work environment.

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