Digital transformation, internal reorganization, creation of a new service offering, and outsourcing an entire department.… There are many reasons that push a company to change, and even more so since the health crisis. So how can you promote successful change?

In recent months, the pandemic has caused numerous disruptions and brought entire parts of the economy to a halt. But it has also led thousands of companies to reinvent themselves, modify their business model, or simply create brand new products and services they might otherwise never have thought of. So, we change to adapt, but we also change to progress. After all, what company doesn’t dream of improving, of learning from its mistakes, offering innovations, and accelerating its growth while competitors lag behind?

Everything starts with one question:

does my company need to evolve in order to fulfill its mission and sustain permanent development, both today and tomorrow? If the answer is yes, the change must be carefully planned and designed.

Ever-increasing factors of change:

Change nearly always starts with an awareness of a disconnect between a company’s goals and the means or measures it is implementing to achieve them.

• Technological disconnect
• Strategic disconnect: re-centering or expanding the core business due to market constraints, competition, or shareholders
• Cultural evolution: misalignment or evolution of values
• Regulatory constraints
• Structural constraints: organization poorly-suited to the environment

Forced change vs. Elected change

Whether change is forced or chosen, and whether it takes place urgently or gradually, its aim is nearly always progress and improvement. And in any scenario, success is never guaranteed.

One noteworthy study from the Harvard Business Review, which has since been corroborated by McKinsey, shows that the majority of company changes fail, not for budgetary or material reasons, but for human ones, i.e. employee attitudes and manager behaviors. This is the infamous “resistance to change” we hear of.

It’s vital to support them in this process. This is precisely the goal of “change management:” countering resistance to change and other obstacles to innovation projects. Supporting employee development and skill acquisition and keeping employees regularly informed are equally vital actions.