Change Management

Change Management - Martens und Kollegen - Düsseldorf

Wenn der Wind der Veränderung weht, bauen manche Mauern, die anderen setzen Segel Lao-tse

What is change management?

By definition, change management refers to the active management of change. In a scheduled framework, the lived change of an organization is strived for. In order for the desired state to become the lived, new norm, there are various methods and instruments in change management that segment the change processes and make them controllable.

Change management helps companies to do this,

  • Establish a general awareness of the need for change.
  • Provide employees with a clear vision of the goal they are striving for and how to get there
  • Reduce resistance and absorb any uncertainties that arise.

Today, companies are increasingly subject to a temporally and technologically motivated pressure to adapt to the competition. Nevertheless, this mechanism is also their driving force and the basic prerequisite for remaining able to act and compete through permanent change. Organizations that flexibly meet the constantly changing framework conditions secure their place in the market and competition in the long term. Change management in times of crisis is thus already actively counteracted.

Companies are subject to permanent change, have growth and depression phases, economic success or merge with other companies. As a result, structures as well as departments and divisions are permanently adapted. All this happens with pressure from the market and competition from different motivations:

  • Time: Companies must remain up-to-date under time pressure in order to survive in the long term.
  • Resources: Raw materials are becoming scarcer and more expensive.
  • Globalization: Resources are not always available in the home market, current geopolitical conflicts show these dependencies, nevertheless sales markets are determined by global suppliers.
  • Sustainability: political and societal demands in terms of sustainable business and social responsibility
  • Politics: Ever stricter laws and certifications

At the same time, companies must take into account the demands for a better work-life balance for their employees and create perspectives in order to remain attractive as an employer. Only a leadership that sees change as an opportunity and change, as a driving force, can turn these challenges into successes.

What are the change management approaches?

The best-known models include Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' change curve, Kurt Lewin's 3-phase model and John P. Kotter's 8-step model. Basically, the models deal with how employees, teams and companies implement change, cope with it emotionally and accept it as a new normal state.

The Kübler-Ross change curve for personal motivation in change processes

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross describes a model of how people personally process and emotionally deal with change. If companies understand the respective emotional states of their employees and customers in such phases and act accordingly, they can anticipate much better and achieve the process more successfully and in a more timely manner.

Kuebler-Ross model-Martens und Kollegen
Kübler-Ross model

3-phase model according to Lewin

Lewin's model is considered a basic model. He describes the change in employee behavior that accompanies change using the example of an ice cube, which goes through 3 phases until it is redesigned: Unfreezing , Change and Refreezing .

Levin model-Martens und Kollegen
Lewin model

8-step model according to Kotter

John P. Kotter focuses on the people going through the change in his 8-step model. He segments the change with consideration of the people to reduce resistance and establish trust in the new path.

The 8 steps describe the stages of the change process: from creating the change climate, to engaging the organization, to implementing and embedding the new culture.

Kotter Model-Martens und Kollegen
Kotter model

In today's world, a company must adapt to its environment ever more quickly. In order to survive in this dynamic change, constant changes must take place in order to operate successfully in the future. Changes can help to survive in times of crisis, to activate the necessary levers in a merger or to restructure internal processes.

Last but not least, modern companies must take the changing world of work into account in order to remain attractive to potential candidates and their own employees. It is virtually a prerequisite to permanently drive change in order to remain attractive.

Change with Martens & Kollegen:

We are your Change Manager and implement new ideas in sales, marketing and the organization. We are direct, but fair and always take the organization motivated on the new path. Your chance in change.