KATIE CURTIS

To determine organizational readiness for change we completed an internal analysis consisting of a Change Readiness Predictor worksheet.  Our organization scored 82 which indicates the organization is ready for change. The biggest areas of concern are clear internal processes, time commitment and skilled change agents. Our employees are flexible and dedicated. They may not look forward to change but they have  historically stood by our decisions and adapted well. There is a clear benefit for both the company and organization with this change which will improve the current organizational processes.  As long as we can focus on effectively communicating this to  our employees I believe they will adapt well. 

The leadership team consists of my family members. We are very supportive of each other and new initiatives. We all have different strengths which will help with the change process. My mom is the visionary, my dad is wise, my sister is enthusiastic and I am inspiring.  We have used and will continue to use each of these strengths when communicating the change process to the team. 

We have already discussed with the office that there will be upcoming changes. We started with Part 1 of the plan and explained the need for a new evaluation process and form. When reviewing this form, we were able to open up a conversation regarding how beneficial it would be to have more quantitative data for each position to create goals. This led to a introduction into Part 2 of the plan. Communicating early and thoroughly was our primary goal and has helped alleviate any potential resistance to the change. The conversations have been most focused on the positives that this change will bring to their futures and the future of the company rather than dwelling on the ways of the past. 

We are currently in this stage of the CHANGE process. With the feedback from our employees, we are revisiting our objectives and success metrics for this change. We are simultaneously conducting a risk assessment. The greatest risk we face with this change is an ineffective or inaccurate system to track performance metrics. If the system we chose  inaccurately tracks productivity or creates too many unexpected issues, we will loose the confidence and trust of employees and risk coaching employees based on inaccurate data. Jeopardizing the trust and support of our employees would greatly impact our ability to reach our objectives for this change. 

It will be important for us to focus on continually checking in with employees and working to motivate them throughout the whole process rather than get too caught up in the details of implementation. We will need to reward small wins throughout the process and maintain our supportive work culture. Keeping the communication between the change leaders and the rest of the organization open will be essential to maintain trust and a shared vision. As plans change or challenges arise, we will need to communicate this immediately and honestly. We will also need to provide opportunities for employees to communicate with us their anxieties or worries throughout the process.  

Finally, we will reflect on the process we just implemented and evaluate its success against our original objectives.  Feedback from employees will be essential for this step and continue evaluation as time goes on will allow us to see if the new system is providing us with accurate and beneficial metrics of performance as was intended. Evaluating how the leadership team managed this change will be essential as well for the future success of the business and changes we may face.