Change management is a must

Shelter Chieza
One valuable lesson that I have learnt as a professional is that in business the only thing that is perceived constant is change. When management decides that it wants to make changes in the company’s structure, personnel, products or processes, they should be aware that once implemented the changes may not be reversed.
In most if not all the organisations, what forces people to think of change is mainly the market. It is too risky to run an organisation on assumptions that things will remain the same.

Organisations cannot stick to the same policies and procedures for years and years. The world is becoming a competitive place and hence organisations engage in marketing initiatives such as re-branding or re-launching of products to remain relevant.

There are a lot of things that influence change in organisations. One thing that stands out on my priority list is the customers’ ever changing needs.

Have you noticed that we now have a very discerning customer, who would raise objections at every turn because every dollar counts.

How often do you see changes in the marketplace, or in regulations, or technology or in labour markets or general economic changes?

As an organisation, if you see these things happening at a more defined pace, then you must know that you need to set up your own internal change management programme.

The moment you see the need for change in an organisation’s strategy, or workforce or equipment, then it’s time to set up an independent change management department.

The whole ethos behind change management is to build a company that can adapt and survive in an ever changing environment. It is very important for every organisation to have a vision about the future and a means of achieving that vision.

Without an appropriate vision, a transformation effort becomes so misleading and can take up so much time.

It is critical for management in organisations to be bold by standing up and communicating change strategies to their subordinates in the most clear and precise way possible.

If you are embarking on an automation process, be very clear as to who will be affected and how. Do not let employees speculate among themselves as to what will happen to who and how.

It will stall your plans. Most managers are bad communicators, if they are unable to articulate they should get an independent party to come and manage the communication for them.

I know of one organisation that had a problem communicating changes, management simply avoided a “one size fits all” approach by segmenting employees and taking time to understand their levels of comprehension and then formulating appropriate communication strategies.

They included a section in the internal newsletter and intranet discussion forums on “this and that”. It gave them great ideas and constructive comments to improve the business and the way change was communicated.

They ended up receiving great ideas on initiatives that we were pursuing. Employees’ performance increases when staff feels supported and understand the change process.
Consequently, increased customer service from confident and knowledgeable employees improves morale, productivity and quality of work.

Do not ever embark on a change programme without planning for it. Planned change removes suspicion among employees.

The tourism sector has a lot of opportunities and it only requires the local hospitality industry to institute changes that make them offer world class service.

This can be achieved through creating synergies with local hospitality training institutions and international tourism centres of excellence to upgrade skills to a level that is compatible with the rest of the world.

Zimbabwe also shares a border with five countries Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia that also have great tourist attraction, which also presents enormous opportunities for synergies.

There is significant potential to benefit from these attractions if the countries involved abandon the idea of going it alone and coming together to design a combined packages that give tourists an opportunity to sample the attractions in each country using one package.

Already significant steps have been made through the creation of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park that straddles the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe and the signing of an agreement for a uni-visa system by Zimbabwe and Zambia.

An effective management plan gives the manager a less hectic job, what is left is to design a prioritisation list and benchmarking.

Existing processes are mapped to establish and develop an understanding of the future processes. Worldwide cross industry process comparisons are used to establish best practice and provide possible basis for process redesign.

As you re-organise and map a way forward for the company, try to think outside the box and eliminate borderlines, global trends are there to assist you. Don’t confine yourself to the local situation; you have to compete with the best to become the best. Sometimes change may not be a once off project, transforming a system generally requires many rounds of changes over time.

I believe transforming Zimbabwe’s image to world tourism is going to take a lot of effort. Various efforts that have been initiated such as the Buy Zimbabwe Campaign are designed to unlock our country’s full potential and inspire economic growth and competitiveness of local brands.

Don’t have a rigid culture within your organisation, the moment you are repulsive towards external issues, you might digging your own grave.

Some critics have concluded that indeed without Change Management organisations are limping on one leg. Don’t be caught limping, change is inevitable.
Till next week, may God richly bless you!