In this eBook, we outline a CEO’s roadmap for navigating change, sharing how they can ensure organizational alignment, and ultimately, success when it comes to preparing for business-driven change. Read an excerpt below or download the full eBook for free here.

A CEO’s Roadmap to Preparing for and Navigating Business-Driven Change 

As the CEO or leader of a business, are you faced with challenges brought about by business-driven change within your organization, such as: 

• Being nimble and ready to scale for projected exponential growth or the launch of new products or services?
• Mitigating a sales slump due to a major revenue-generating product going off the patent cliff?
• Integrating a new line of business or IT system platform due to a recent merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction?

If these changes – or a similar major change – are on your horizon, a key factor to success is ensuring organizational alignment in support of the business-driven change. Leadership needs to consider organizational readiness: Are our people going to accept the change? Are they going to engage and collaborate to be part of the solution? And ultimately, are they going to adapt to make the change a success? 

When it comes to successfully managing change, it’s important to recognize that there may be disruptors within the rank and file of the organization. These individuals may be naturally resistant to change. Additionally, they may be hesitant to accept the change if they perceive a lack of a clear vision or don’t understand the rationale or the “why” the change is imperative.  This includes understanding what failure or the cost of not changing could mean. 

In turn, the lack of clearly articulating the “why” can lead to the alienation of employees, delay in implementation timelines, and rogue counter efforts. The people part of the equation includes not only your employees, but all key stakeholders, too – your consumers, investors, partners, vendors, regulators, and communities served.   

Leadership must realize that change management implementation efforts that aren’t managed properly from a people or organizational perspective can cause major disruption to an organization and undermine success. During an IT strategic planning exercise for a client, the steering committee was asked, “What will be the number one inhibitor to the success of the plan?” The response cited not having the organization aligned and ready to integrate the change, adding “We can’t just deliver a system, check the box as complete, and expect it to be a success.” Further elaboration indicated there needed to be leadership advocacy, an understanding of business operations impact, a solid communication plan, and a continuous training program based on an understanding of the needs of the various stakeholders.

Three-Step Approach for Navigating Change

To mitigate roadblocks and ultimately failure, CEOs need to be equipped with an intentional organizational change management (OCM) plan. In this eBook, we outline a pragmatic three-step approach that CEOs and their leadership teams can take to assess readiness and best position their organization for success when a major change is imminent. To successfully guide the organization’s change integration, effectively positioning the organization for change cannot be an afterthought. Rather, OCM needs to be planned and managed in tandem with the overall planning and undertaking of the change effort. If you’re looking for further guidance, reach out to Clarkston – our team of OCM experts can help your organization prepare for and embrace change. 

Download the CEO Roadmap for Navigating Change eBook Here