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Become an agent of operational change in your company
Significant operational changes may start from nothing. Here are some advice how to become an effective change agent.
The old saying “the only thing constant is change” is more applicable than ever to the speed and requirements of the business. Stronger competition, higher expectations and globalization affect the search for new customers and the holding of existing clients. This is becoming increasingly difficult given the instability and uncertainty of the market.
Big and small companies continue to realize that the only way to survive – and even more so to grow – is to create an environment that allows employees to successfully fulfill the requirements of their role and become more effective and, of course, more satisfied with their careers.
The problem here is that organizational change is required to achieve these goals.
This may include an improved operational structure, the development of systems and processes to meet new requirements and, more generally, the creation of a more economical and flexible business that is able to grow rapidly.
But who is responsible for this?
The traditional role of the agent of change
Traditionally, changes go from top to bottom. People with stronger leadership roles tend to have the influence and budget to make decisions that encourage change.
However, people with the power to influence change may not have the visibility of day-to-day operations that will benefit the most.
In trying to improve processes and operations, many companies use this kind of incorrect change management, and unfortunately this is not the case.
Operational problems faced by the change agent
For the agent of change, infrastructure and operational problems are significant.
The company can invest in any number of systems – project management tools, sales and marketing systems, financial and accounting tracking, as well as software for supply chains, HR and other departments.
These separate systems, as well as the separate process that follows them, create an opportunity where the tools available to employees do not work, creating bad experiences, errors and additional and unnecessary work.
Essentially, employees are locked into systems that should match the way the work should be done, but unfortunately this is not the case. Employees get locked in filling gaps between these processes, which leads to clumsy and inefficient operations that do not correspond to the unique way of doing business.
