The Five Principles of Effective Change Management6 min read
What is Change Management?
Implementing a CRM solution or project means also implementing a business change, and implementing a business change requires management.
Whenever the way people work is altered there will be resistance, because change disrupts routine, confidence and control. It is not as simple as implementing new technology and everyone happily using it immediately.
Thinking about a project as a business change project is important because it will help you to identify early on the resistance that you may experience. It supports you in thinking about the value of the project and how to extend the maturity of that value.
Change management is often treated as optional. It is discussed briefly, noted in a project plan, and then quietly sidelined in favour of requirements, timelines, and delivery milestones. Yet, when CRM initiatives struggle, it is almost always because of the way change was introduced, communicated, and supported.
To keep people engaged and onboard, you have to bring them on the journey of a project, not just hand them the finished product at the end.
Why Does Resistance Happen?
People inherently do not want to change. Change introduces uncertainty, which in turn triggers fear. Most people want to stay in their comfort zone where it is safe and they feel in control.
When people don’t see the need for a change, these feelings are exaggerated. A lack of understanding and a lack of personal investment in a business change are the most common causes for resistance.
Moreover, if the business has undergone previous changes that weren’t successful, or they have undergone a lot of changes in a short amount of time, people can experience change fatigue, and this makes them resistant to more change.
All of these factors are part of what makes change management so important for a project. When change is handled deliberately, resistance can be anticipated, understood, and addressed.
That’s why we’ve put together five tips to help you implement effective change management, and separate successful change from stalled adoption.
1. Do Not Underestimate the Importance of Change Management
Businesses tend to push change management to one side when they do project work. They assume it’s not something that they need to invest their time into, based on the belief that people will just adapt to whatever system they are given.
This is not true. People are adaptable but adoption is not automatic. The effectiveness of how you manage change has a massive impact on the outcome of your project. If you can manage change well, you will be much more successful in meeting, or exceeding, your project objectives.
When change is poorly managed, systems may go live on time and on budget, yet fail to deliver value. When change is managed well, adoption accelerates and outcomes compound.
Change management is not an overhead. It is a value multiplier.
2. Start Change Management Early
Change management should not start at go-live. The earlier you can start effective change management the better your outcomes are going to be.
Expecting people to adapt to a change within a short span of time can be overwhelming for your employees. If you take your team on a journey from the start, they are more likely to accept the changes you are putting on them, because implementing change incrementally is less overwhelming.
It is important for the project leads to be thinking about, from start to finish:
- How many people is this going to impact?
- What types of communication do we need?
- Do we need to consider champions?
- Will there be particular areas in the business that are going to be resistant to this change?
Starting these change management tactics early is how you can ensure your project is a success.
3. Be Intentional About Who Communicates What
Not all messages should come from the same voice.
Messages about the business as a whole are better received when they come from the CEO or a member of the leadership team. These messages signal commitment and importance.
In contrast, people prefer to receive messages about business change that will directly impact them from their direct line manager. Hearing these messages from somewhere they work closely with day-to-day makes the communication feel more genuine.
Change lands more effectively when the messenger aligns with the message.
4. Use a Clear Framework to Guide the Journey
Any journey is better when it is mapped out. The same goes for change.
A structured approach gives people a sense of direction and helps businesses to manage change deliberately rather than reactively.
One example of an effective model for doing this is ADKAR:
- Awareness – you want people to be aware that a project is taking place, what the need for it is, why it is taking place, and how they can participate in the change.
- Desire – people who are using a system daily will want to have their say on what it looks like in the future.
- Knowledge – people need to have the required training so that they can use the system.
- Ability – people must be given the correct access and tools to use the system. Everyone who will use the system should be involved in testing it.
- Reinforcement – sustaining change improves adoption. Create goals related to the new system to encourage people to actually use it.
It is important to have a communication plan mapped out, from start to finish. This helps to keep communications clear, on time, and effective.
Change management also covers post-project support, so this communication should not end with go-live. Having frequent check-in sessions, including one-to-ones, after go-live is impactful at increasing adoption rates. Change is most effective when people feel consistently supported.
5. Do Not Underestimate the Impact on People
Poorly managed change makes people feel unheard, undervalued, and small. Whereas well-managed change can have a positive impact on your business because it helps with employee well-being. It is important to engage with your employees so that they feel valued and seen.
The people who are most resistant to change should be the ones who are involved the most. When you actively involve resistors, from the very beginning, they are more likely to agree to business changes because they feel like they have been a part of the project and its planning.
At the end of the day, your employees are the ones who will be using this system day-to-day. So you want them to be engaged and accepting of the change, and this is more likely to happen if you make people feel included from the very beginning.
Change management does not just protect projects. It protects relationships.
Final Thoughts
Change is unavoidable. Organisations that fail to evolve risk becoming irrelevant, but organisations that change without care risk disengaging the very people they rely on to succeed.
Effective change management turns disruption into progress. When people understand the journey, see themselves in the destination, and feel supported along the way, change stops being something that happens to them.
Instead, it becomes something they engage with and actively participate in.