Perfecting Organizational Change: Defining the Role of the Change Leader by Walter McFarland.

I woke up this morning with one of my favorites Mahatma Gandhi sayings on my brain: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” During a time where I am changing both personally and professionally, I truly have conceptualized the importance on creating the change you want to see.

As HR professionals, we tend to get wrapped up in the daily operations of managing human resources functions within our organizations, i.e. ensuring that all the new hires have registered for benefits during the open enrollment period, making sure that hiring managers are conducing timely performance reviews and continuous employee training and development is happening within multiple departments. But what happens when our focus shifts from the day to day to the larger picture? What steps do we start taking when we think about the direction we would like our organization to be moving towards in the future? How do we EFFECTIVELY and POSITIVELY partner with our C-Suites to create change within our organization?

The article by Walter McFarland highlights a lot of excellent points on executing change within your organizations. During any type of change management initiative, ask yourself the following questions:

1) Who are your Change Leaders: Which individuals in your company will become the face of change management? Your Change Leaders must be able to not only talk the talk (clearly communicate the why’s behind your change initiative to all employees within the company) but walk the walk (actively show change by behaviors and actions).

2) Are you/your Change Leaders implementing change in an effective manner? Do ALL your employees understand the business decisions behind the change and what their role(s) will be in effecting change?

3) Does the change you want to implement within your organization mirror the objectives within you Mission, Vision and Core Value statements and correlate with our company culture?

4) Are your Change Leaders people who emit high integrity? Do your change leaders inspire success in others? Are your Change Leaders objective individuals that work for the good of your organizational community? Do your Change Leaders understand the importance of employee training and development? The answer to all these questions must be yes in order to have effective and successful Change Leader.

5) Are your Change Leaders forward-thinking but learn from their mistakes?

McFarland’s article was so relevant as we look towards changed in the economy and the current job market. His musings really got me thinking about my role as  Change Leader in my professional life and within my organization.

What are your Change Management best practices?

Namaste

If you want to create change w/in your organization, you have to BE the CHANGE