The most important resource of a business today is it’s people. This is increasingly meaningful not merely as rhetoric but also in practice.
If we depend more and more on fewer people and if the loyalty of these people, particularly managers, can no longer be assumed but rather must be earned and retained, then clearly we need to be concerned about how we utilize them, develop them and resource them.
We also need to consider the opportunities for rewards, promotion and success which we provide. If changes depend upon the people who implement them one must be concerned to ensure that those people possess the necessary skills. If those same people are motivated by challenge and opportunity then we must provide that as well.
If we are to bring people together effectively, then we must adopt managerial styles conducive to learning, to development, to creating and to articulating/communicating vision.
In part, it demands that we understand the process of innovation, adaptation and change – what hinders change in the individual, the group, the unit and the corporate level? What can be done about these “blockages/hindrances?” Processes like these are often referred to as “culture change.”
Implementing “culture change” successfully requires us to take an organization-wide approach. Change creates stress and strain both for those who support change and for those who are either indifferent, opposed or fearful of change.
Organizational learning is a vital component of effective change. However, change implementation requires the following :
– Building an awareness for the need for change
– Making the case for change convincingly and credibly
– That the process of change is a learning process – a realization that you don’t get everything right initially
– That dramatic changes can feel chaotic and uncertain as people seek to come to terms with new awareness creation and new skills
– That attention must be given to broadening and mobilizing support for change, whether through task forces and project teams or through the use of incentive systems and training
– That the focus is on people and on the process of change
