Companies are struggling with change management

Change has become different

Leaders are confronted with an increasing rate of change and complexity and need to find ways to deal with it.

Leading a company through change has become different from how it was ten to twenty years ago. Mobilizing employees, engaging them successfully, motivating them, informing them, using the talent and potential of people and teams, it all is crucial.

Companies are struggling with change management

A study from Towers Watson – “Clear Direction in a Complex World” – shows that companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are struggling to deal with change management challenges.

The research showed that EMEA companies fall behind when it comes to being clear to employees about what they need to do differently to be successful.

For organizations based in EMEA this has meant downsizing at nearly half (47%) and pay freezes at almost a third (31%). EMEA companies’ experience of change has been more extreme than in other areas of the world with figures showing lower instances of redundancies (37%) and pay freezes (24%) across the globe.

Crucially, when faced with change, only a third of organizations in EMEA create an integrated communication and change management strategy, compared to just under half globally. EMEA companies also fall behind when it comes to being clear to employees about what they need to do differently to be successful.

Globally, two-thirds of companies that are highly effective in managing change provide clear direction to employees, compared to only half in EMEA. In addition, European companies have been less clear at defining their “employment deal” or Employee Value Proposition (EVP) which lets employees know what the company expects from them and what they can expect in return.

Only around a third of highly change-effective companies in Europe believe they currently have a clearly defined EVP but promisingly, nearly half are developing targeted EVPs for different employee groups.

The survey shows that the way in which change is managed and communicated within an organization has a significant impact on financial performance. It concludes that companies that are highly effective at both communication and change management are found to be around 2.5 times as likely to outperform their peers as companies that are not highly effective in either area.

That’s why companies need to communicate a clear story about the business and the changes that occur. Creating greater certainty, confidence and engagement with employees has a significant impact on employee motivation, engagement and retention and this in turn is shown to be fundamental to better financial performance.

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Companies are struggling with change management — https://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/rqz
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