Change management

Whether your organization is implementing new technology, a new information system, a total business transformation, a new organizational structure – the key element in each case is People.

The success of the desired change depends on the extent to which people buy into the new environment.

If you need to ensure a greater probability of success of your change efforts, let Sebata Municipal Solutions help you achieve systematic change successfully and efficiently, and with the support and involvement of all employees and stakeholders. We achieve this by, first and foremost, motivating all involved and/or affected and taking them along in the change process.

We help organizations deal with the unease that is usually experienced when people (employees and stakeholders) are confronted by the fact that the infrastructure and environment in which they have learned to operate and had become accustomed to, no longer exists.

What is change management?

CHANGE MANAGEMENT can be defined as a range of processes and interventions that should be put in place to manage the emotional ups and downs that people go through whenever organizations implement significant change. All change management processes and interventions should always be underpinned by extensive communication.

Background and overview

To be successful, organizations have to focus not only on their information technology, finances, structures and sales channels, but also on the thoughts, aspirations and actions of their employees and stakeholders.

In many organizations, the following factors largely account for the failure of change efforts:

• Unclear goals and priorities
• Insufficient commitment to change of project leaders
• Poor communication
• Underestimating the influence of culture
• Unresolved resistance to change

All underlying risks and risks inherent in the change effort need to be proactively managed.

Benefits of implementing change management

The implementation of systematic change management has a number of benefits for organizations, namely:

• Strengthening the commitment of all stakeholders
• Reducing uncertainty, resistance and concerns associated with change
• Accelerating the change process
• Minimizing productivity losses and or down-time resulting from resistance or poor penetration of change

Critical success factors for implementing change

All over the world, experience has overwhelmingly shown that three important features are, above all, required for successful change, namely:

• Leadership
• A well structured, but flexible programme
• Clearly set and communicated targets

Our approach and methodology

Using our structured, people-friendly, and process driven methodology, we focus on all processes and activities that are critical to the success of the change effort. For example, we focus on putting in place measures and processes to, among others:

• Overcome resistance to change
• Deal with the influence of culture
• Highlight roles and responsibilities
• Structure the approach
• Involve all stakeholders

Our methodology involves supporting your organization through a systematic, structured and secure approach.

We set out a change management programme that has the following critical components:

• Change readiness assessment
• Establishing and prioritizing goals
• Setting roles and responsibilities of the people involved
• Establishing the risks and identifying possible problem areas
• Developing a friction minimization framework that deals with resistance barriers
• An Implementation Plan
• A Communications Plan, that incorporates a motivational approach

Our approach increases the efficiency of the change process, because we:

• Analyze the “as-is” situation
• Articulate the vision of the organization
• Set concrete goals
• Highlight to all involved and affected, the need for change and the danger or disadvantages of doing nothing
• Highlight intended changes and associated benefits
• Recognize and bolster personal capabilities and growth
• Develop teams
• Coach teams
• Support the leadership of the organization
• Increase the readiness for change

The steps or process that we take organizations through can be illustrated as follows:

Our approach involves numerous interactions, focus group sessions and workshops, that ensure that all those involved or affected by the change feel that they are taken seriously, their inputs matter and they are part of the decision making process. Our approach also ensures that all those involved or affected by the change feel committed to implement what has been resolved.