In broad terms, organizational change management is the process needed to enable the people in an organization to make the transition to a new desired state.

Change management helps people increase their capacity to not only accept and adapt to change, but to fully adopt change. It focuses on building true commitment to the change initiative by fully engaging the individuals involved.

To understand the environment where change management operates, it is helpful to understand the two distinct dimensions of organizational change:

1.The Change Event

The first dimension of change is the event itself – for example, the implementation of a new software system, the merger of two departments or the acquisition of a new line of business.

The change event is:

• Concrete
• Visible
• Defined by a distinct beginning and end

2. The Transition through the White Space

The second dimension of change is the intangible white space between where the individuals in the organization are now and where the organization needs them to be in order for the change event to achieve its desired results. Every individual in the organization must make his or her own transition through the white space.

The transition or white space of change is:

• Intangible
• Personal
• Context sensitive
• Undefined by a clear beginning and end

This dimension is often overlooked and/or misunderstood by leaders.

Organizations don’t change. People do.

While new processes, forward thinking strategies and cutting edge hardware and system changes may be critical to your organization’s success, none of these alone can carry your business over the finish line. They need people – your people – to bring them to life and make them work for your business.

Facilitating the transition through the white space of change requires different approaches and a different perspective than managing the change event. In fact, just as the elements of the white space are intangible, so are many of the activities required for successful change management. In reality, organizational change management is less about managing the change event and more about smoothing individuals’ journeys through the white space.

To manage the white space of change, you need to understand:

• How people naturally respond to change, and
• How to work with that natural response to help every individual in the organization make the transition.

Change management’s role is to help each person get to a point where they can see themselves living in their new work environment – doing new tasks, using new skills, or even sitting in a new seat. Once they can imagine themselves being successful in their new world, they can approach the change with less stress and anxiety.

The value of change management

Effectively facilitating your team’s transition can mean your organization realizes the value of the change much sooner, with less disruption and loss of productivity, and virtually no resistance. As an added bonus, the effects of well-managed change are cumulative. Successfully managing one change builds both your organization’s and your team’s capacity for change. And that’s good for your business in the long term!

If you would like to learn more about thow to navigate the white space of change in your organization, Turner Change Management can help. Contact us.

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