What is change management and how to do it step by step

Every company faces change. Whether technological, process-related or even cultural, the business environment demands adaptability and innovation. Still, many organizations suffer more than they need to during these transitions. That is where change management (known in Brazil as GMUD, from “Gestão de Mudanças”) comes in.

Inefficiency, team resistance and negative effects on results are some of the symptoms when change management is not done properly. It involves a strategic, systematic approach to guide the organization through the necessary transformations in a controlled way and with minimal resistance.

For leaders, understanding the importance of this approach and applying it correctly can be the difference between a successful change process and one full of challenges.

In this post, we explain what change management is, how to do it and how to plan changes in organizations, among other relevant information.

Read also:

• [INFOGRAPHIC] Checklist for creating a good change management planopens in a new tab (in Portuguese)

What is change management?

Change management is the set of procedures and actions needed to detect, implement and control a company’s changes and to make sure they are carried out correctly and accepted by employees.

In practice, it analyzes and plans the changes within a company (such as rolling out software that the whole organization will use) to mitigate problems and the team’s difficulty adapting.

Change management in companies is a discipline recognized for more than half a century. Even so, most studies still show that a large share of organizational change projects do not reach the expected result.

Why is change management important?

You have certainly heard the terms VUCA world or BANI world. Whichever makes more sense today, the point is that the global scenario is volatile and change is inevitable, whether from the need to keep up with new technologies, market shifts or internal adjustments.

That is why change management is essential for organizations to carry out these transformations without noise and with a direct impact on results and organizational culture.

Anyone who has been through a change in a company knows it can generate resistance from employees, who are often insecure or unmotivated in the face of poorly planned transformations.

Without proper communication and preparation, fear of the unknown takes over and makes the change harder to accept. This can result in lower productivity, more operational errors and even higher employee turnover.

How to manage change in companies

Every company goes through phases in which a new technology, process or methodology is introduced and, at first, it feels like a battlefield.

Below is a step-by-step guide to managing it effectively.

1. Understand the scenario and prepare the ground

The first step is to understand what is happening inside the company. Change management only succeeds if the leader knows where the organization is and where it wants to take it. That is why change management starts with a thorough analysis of the current scenario.

This analysis involves meetings with the leadership to understand operational difficulties, expectations about the change and resistance. Questions such as “What is working well today?” and “Where are the biggest challenges?” are essential to design a plan aligned with the company’s real needs.

In addition, constant dialogue with employees helps create an open mindset toward change. This makes communication easier and makes the next phases of the process smoother.

2. Plan the foundation

Planning is not just listing tasks and deadlines. Change management requires a clear plan, with well-defined objectives, delimited stages and success indicators.

The first tip is to be realistic and strategic: map the stages precisely and define who is responsible, the deadline for each task and the expected impact. To decide what to do first, the GUT matrixopens in a new tab helps prioritize actions.

Good planning also involves identifying the necessary resources and training people to deal with the change.

At this stage, tools such as 5W2Hopens in a new tab give direction for running the action planopens in a new tab, making sure everyone involved knows their roles.

In practice, split the change into small implementation cycles. This makes control easier and creates a sense of achievement as goals are reached.

3. Communicate transparently with everyone involved

Change management without good communication does not work. During the implementation of changes, transparency is vital.

That does not mean only informing what is changing, but explaining why the change is necessary, how it will be implemented and what benefits it will bring. The greatest resistance usually appears when teams do not understand the reason for the change.

That is why it is worth creating open channels of dialogue, such as regular meetings or newsletters, to keep everyone updated and comfortable raising questions. The clearer and more objective the communication, the easier it is to overcome the barriers of resistance.

4. Implement the change

With the scenario mapped, the plan structured and communication aligned, it is time to put change management into practice. The secret is for the implementation to be gradual and monitored. Trying to change everything at once has a huge impact and can cause chaos.

The ideal is to implement the change in stages, prioritizing what directly affects operations. For example, when adopting a new management system, the company can start with a pilot team, test the tool for a month and adjust as needed.

During that period, it is possible to fix flaws, adapt the system and prepare the rest of the company for full adoption.

It is also crucial to make sure everyone involved has the support they need, through training, webinars or tutorials. This reduces frustration and increases the team’s confidence in the new process.

5. Follow up and support

Change does not end with implementation, and keeping up the follow-up is essential for it to succeed. Change management must include continuous evaluation, adjustments and, if necessary, replanning.

A feedback system, in which teams share what is working and what is not, makes post-implementation follow-up more effective. It makes it easier to identify points for improvement and makes everyone feel the change is not being imposed, but adjusted to the team’s real needs.

In addition, continuously reviewing performance indicators shows whether the change is reaching the expected results or whether adjustments are needed. Without this follow-up, changes lose direction and the company may go back to old habits.

The biggest challenges and pitfalls of change management

Implementing change management in an organization can be a big step toward evolution, but, like any significant process, it brings challenges and pitfalls that must be avoided.

Some of them are:

1. Lack of alignment between leaders and employees

It is common for leaders to try to impose changes without clearly communicating the vision. This creates frustration in teams and hurts the organization’s overall performance.

To avoid the problem, involve leaders from the start. They need not only to understand the change, but also to believe in it. That way, communication flows better and buy-in tends to be stronger.

2. Lack of transparency

Many companies make the mistake of not keeping a constant flow of information, leaving employees in the dark about what is happening, why the changes are being made and what the impact will be.

In change management, when communication is scarce or vague, rumors, insecurity and distrust arise.

3. Underestimating resistance to change

Resistance to change is a universal challenge in any change management process. People naturally feel uncomfortable with the unknown, and changes, even beneficial ones, can be met with skepticism or rejection. Underestimating that resistance is a big pitfall.

A good approach is to anticipate possible resistance, talk about concerns and involve employees in the process from the start. The better prepared they are for what is coming, the lower the resistance.

4. Failing to recognize successes and celebrate achievements

Celebrating wins, big or small, is essential to keep team morale high and engaged in change management. Without celebrating the milestones reached during the change process, the team may lose motivation and, with it, the results you want.

Recognizing wins, even small ones, helps consolidate the change and creates a positive cycle of engagement.

5. Ignoring the importance of organizational culture

Finally, one of the biggest pitfalls of change management is ignoring organizational culture. The change must be aligned with the company’s values and culture. Otherwise, even a good change management strategy can fail.

Changes imposed without taking organizational culture into account can backfire. Teams need to see the change as aligned with the company’s values, not as something external or forced.

The human factor in change management

Change management is often complex, but necessary and decisive for a company’s success. Many factors trigger change, such as crises, company mergers and the organization’s own development.

For the change to deliver satisfactory results, you need to assess its importance to the business and the impacts and risks it may bring. To make this analysis easier, we illustrate seven essential questions for the team to reflect on, which help decide the direction of the organization’s changes with more confidence.

It is important to answer them considering all the affected areas and the different perspectives of the company.

After the decision to change is assessed, the execution plan needs to go hand in hand with the impact on the people who will live through it.

One of the big challenges of management and organizational leadership is gaining the engagement of stakeholders, the groups directly or indirectly affected by the changes and by management’s results.

The influence of these audiences on projects is decisive for their success or failure, which is why dialogue and strategy are important for employee engagementopens in a new tab.

It is essential to bring a more human view to management, because employees need time and space to process and adapt to the changes that come from each company need.

That is where change management comes in as a decisive factor, supporting the transition so the team does not react against the change and go back to its comfort zone.

Get to know the HCMBOK change management guide

A good example of a change management plan is HCMBOK. The HCMBOK guide (Human Change Management Body of Knowledgeopens in a new tab) shows how to handle change management considering the human factor in organizations, with good practices and tools that contribute to project success.

The guide contains macro-activities that help develop organizational culture. Every change should be treated as a project and, for that, it needs planning.

HCMBOK structures the planning of the human side of change, because only then can the project achieve organizational change.

The guide includes activities that range from correctly mapping stakeholders to sustaining the change after the project. Together with project managementopens in a new tab, they boost the success of the change and reduce sabotage inside the company.

So, for anyone looking for an example of a change management plan, HCMBOK is a methodology to consider.

With the support of methods that help with change management and fit the organizational culture, it is easier to move away from the status quo and put into practice activities that benefit the company’s long-term development.

This makes it possible to systematize and reflect on relevant aspects that are easily forgotten, focusing on the group’s growth and on making stakeholders more involved and productive.

How to track change management?

Change lasts when each initiative has an owner, a deadline and an indicator, and progress is visible to decision makers. Without that follow-up, the plan stays on paper and the team goes back to old habits.

In Stratwsopens in a new tab, the AI platform for strategic and performance management created by Siteware, change initiatives live in action plans with an owner and a deadline, linked to the company’s goals and indicators, and managers track progress on a dashboard in follow-up meetings.

Visit our website and explore the Business Transformation solution in Stratwsopens in a new tab.

Frequently asked questions

What is change management (GMUD)?+−

GMUD stands for Gestão de Mudanças, or change management: the process of planning, communicating, implementing and following up on changes in an organization's technology, processes or culture. The goal is to reduce team resistance and negative effects on results during the transition.

Why is change management important?+−

Change management reduces employee resistance, prevents drops in productivity and rework, keeps the change aligned with company culture and gives leaders a way to check whether the change delivers the expected result. Without it, transformations tend to lose direction.

How to do change management efficiently?+−

Understand the current scenario, plan objectives, owners and deadlines, communicate the reason for the change, implement in stages and track indicators after rollout, leaving room for feedback and adjustments. Each stage needs an owner and a defined deadline.