Critical Success Strategies for New Change Management Leaders

You have been promoted to a new change management position. You’re not sure of how you are going to meet the challenges ahead. All you know is that all eyes are on you and you only have a short time to get your strategies in place and operational. The actions you take will largely determine whether you succeed or fail.  You will either move Change Management support forward or lose this opportunity to show its longer term value and yours.

Given the stakes to your organization, it is surprising how little support is given to new change management leaders. Some change management leaders find themselves out on an island by themselves, even the technology leaders minimizing their position and Change Management’s value.  So many times Change Management programs fail when new leaders misunderstand the essential cultural and leadership demands of themselves, the change situation or lack the skills and flexibility to adapt to them.

It matters a great deal what your situational factors are; are you an insider or an outsider, do you come from business or technology, is this a career move into leadership or do you have management or consulting skills already. Think of yourself as part of your overall change management organizational transition strategy for implementing a success Change Management program.

There are different strategies in handling your challenges; the key is to start with a careful diagnosis of your situational factors and then adapt some general principles while determining the best Change Management Methodology to deploy. 

•  Build relationships in trust: Figure out how to build successful trusted working relationships. Build personal credibility and promote your transition.
• Accelerate your learning: Identify your knowledge gaps, don’t be afraid to do this for yourself, there are plenty of resources, my suggestion is contract with an expert get a coach and set learning goals, don’t think you know… know.
•  Match your change strategy with the environment: Diagnose the business environment and culture accurately and shed light for yourself on its challenges to make needed changes;  what is its history, how does it view Change Management, what has it tired, what is the rate of change indicate and what is the company attitude to “change” and Change Management programs.
•  Achieve sound alignment: Figure out whether your strategy is sound, add structure and bring your change methods into alignment, develop skills necessary to realize your strategic intent.
• Secure early wins: Identify small projects where you can implement your change strategy successfully and use your Change Management methods. Early wins build creditability and create positive momentum for your Change Management program.
• Create partnerships: Create supportive alliances, both internal and external, identify those whose support is essential to achieving your goals and success. Build “your team” with these supporters; education, involve, thank and promote. The quicker you can get partnerships formed, the quicker you will help your own efforts and the likelihood of a successful Change Management Program within your organization.

If you succeed in meeting these core challenges, you and your Change Management Program will get off the ground and begin to build momentum.  Failure to assess yourself first to determine your core challenges can be enough to cause potential failure of any good Change Management implementation program, it’s not always a poorly designed program.