Change Management can be defined as a way a company or organization implements and supports change to internal and external processes. It aims to prevent as much disruption as possible through a structured approach while moving an organization from its current state to a future state.
There are three levels of change management: individual change, organizational change, enterprise change. Change comes with obstacles and precise expertise.
Here at Clearinity we have not only experienced those obstacles first hand but we have worked with over 350 ecommerce companies to gain a precise expertise in guiding our clients organizations through the large transition that is cloud inventory management implementation.
We work with people, processes, and technology to bring change management into a holistic perspective recognizing that humans capacity is often the biggest limitation.
The three levels of change management
There are three levels of change management worth talking about so that we can establish where Clearinity really focuses. The first level is Individual change management.
Individual change management requires the knowledge of how people experience change. It draws upon psychology and sociology as ways to structure change. An individual change management practice might be to ask “What will make a successful transition for this individual given what I know about this particular person and the societal response to change?” The second level digs a bit deeper and wider.
The second level of change management is organizational change. This management style looks at the groups of people and particular departments that will be directly impacted by the transformation or transition. Organizational change looks at ways they can equip the team with effective leadership, coaching, training, and ongoing support. This change management level is most common in any business. What doesn’t often happen on this level is ways to look at the change from the process perspective in addition to the people perspective. The third level, enterprise change management includes this aspect.
Enterprise change management is the third level. It is a large organizational change that not only equips the organization’s people with the tools to make this change happen and succeed but it also looks at ways they can implement change management and create resilience in their processes and technology. This level of change management often focuses on fostering effective leadership and support models that are sustainable for the company to continue on well after the initial change takes place.
These three levels all come with their own limitations and obstacles.
Limits of Change Management & Why Clearinity Can Help
There are several challenges or limits change management faces when trying to complete a successful transformation. Often they these five limitations:
- Lack of investment and resourcing for the change
- Proper investment into training and succession planning is needed in order to make your change the most effective
- Resistance and lack of support
- Resistance in a time of change is human and expected. However, when there is a lack of support from leadership or other team members it can be hard to make the necessary and successful changes. Check out our resistance vs resilience piece to learn more about this change management challenge.
- Too much change too quickly
- We know that humans can only change so much before they feel burnt out
- Lack of leadership and executive support
- Everyone needs to be on board or there will gaps in knowledge of the change
- Everyone needs to be on board or there will gaps in knowledge of the change
At Clearinity we work closely with you and your team to facilitate a large transformation internally that at times can impact external processes. We recognize through working with 350+ ecommerce companies that implementing cloud inventory means that our limit resolves around the human capacity for change. By pacing and creating training structures we support your team to gradually move through wide sweeping organizational changes.
Similar to introducing a new pet into a new home, expecting it to run free and not destroy anything in its way is a mighty, unruly expectation. Slowly guiding the animal and introducing it to its new environment, teaching them the things of what to do and what not to do along the way creates longer-lasting lessons and more success rate of adapting to its new surroundings. Likewise, your team needs the same introduction to the change in their environment. We can help keep everyone on pace while still maintaining their bandwidth for other operational work that will need to be taken care of along the way. This creates a sense of understanding and better yet, they become integrated into the new workflows more easily.