5 mistakes companies make when navigating organisational change (and how to avoid them!)

Change is one of the few constants in today's workplace. Whether it comes from emerging technologies, new ways of working, or the marketplace evolving, change is an inevitability for modern organisations.  

As a consultancy that has been helping organisations manage change for over a decade – we’d say we know a thing or two about the mistakes that companies too often make when trying to navigate it!  

In this blog, we’re going to look at 5 of the most common mistakes we see companies make when navigating change – and how to avoid them.  

Let’s get started. 

 

1. Not knowing how you’re really working today 

Too often, organisations try to reach a future state without knowing what their current state is. This makes it difficult to plan a change programme, measure success, or understand what support people will need along the way.  

Without a clear baseline, you’re essentially guessing what is required to get from where you are, to where you want to be.  

It also becomes much harder to bring people with you. If you don’t fully understand how teams currently work, what tools they rely on, or where their pain points are, you can’t communicate the change in a meaningful way - or show them how it will genuinely make their work easier. And when people can’t see the relevance or the benefit, resistance grows quickly. 

It’s important to identify how you’re working today – using something such as a Digital Matuirity Assessment – before you try to plan for tomorrow. 

 

 

2. Trying to change too much at once 

Organisational change is a huge feat. Trying to change everything at once is not only unmanageable, but often increases the risk of making mistakes, and ultimately, projects failing. This can result in decreased morale and productivity, as well as increased resistance to the change.  

To combat this, organisations should adopt a marginal gains approach, breaking large-scale change down into more manageable chunks, and improving each one individually.  

Let’s say a company wants to move 5,000 members of staff from Google to Microsoft 365. Instead of doing this all in one go, the org would benefit from making small changes - and improvements to ways of working – in stages. Starting with data audit and preparation, moving through to running a pilot project with a small group, before then delivering learning and the full scale rollout.  

You add all of these improvements together – and you achieve organisational change. 

 

 

3. Poor communication throughout 

One of biggest mistakes you can make in a change programme is a lack of effective communication.  

Many organisations believe their work is finished after sending an email from IT letting people know a change is coming. But often fail to clearly explain the reasons behind the change or communicate how it benefits employees. 

Poor communication can often lead to employees feeling unengaged with a programme, leading to resistance and a lack of buy-in. It might also lead to misinformation and rumours, which can have a serious impact on morale among employees.   

Organisations navigating change programmes should communicate early and often, using different channels and methods to ensure all employees feel engaged and informed throughout.  

 

 

4. Ignoring employee feedback 

Organisations that start a large-scale change journey and overlook employee feedback, risk damaging the success of the change programmes. Not only do they miss out on valuable insights from those who are directly impacted by the change, organisations risk sending the wrong message to employees: that their opinions don’t matter. 

Which, ultimately, increases resistance and lowers morale.  

Employees from all different departments, functions, and levels of seniority should be consulted throughout the change journey. It can not only help organisations navigating change to uncover potential issues, but also pave the way for smoother implementation. 

 

 

5. A lack of learning opportunities  

Learning is often seen as an unimportant stage of change – and is only considered as an afterthought when changes aren’t adopted properly.  

A huge mistake organisations can make during change programmes is to expect staff to just ‘get on with it’ and adapt to new systems, processes, or tools without providing the right training opportunities.  

Without adequate support, employees are likely to feel overwhelmed and frustrated, potentially with gaps in the skills that are needed to properly adopt whatever is being introduced.  

Organisations undergoing any kind of change should implement a comprehensive digital skills programmes for all affected staff; providing various learning opportunities that accommodate different learning preferences to ensure everybody has the chance to learn in a way that suits them best. It’s essential to maintain ongoing support too, so that people have access to help when they need it, well beyond the initial implementation and deployment.

 

 

Mistakes You Might Make When Navigating Change - Final thoughts  

With so much to consider and manage during organisational change, it’s understandable that mistakes happen along the way. 

But by recognising and addressing these common pitfalls - from not fully understanding your current ways of working, to attempting to overhaul too much at once, and overlooking employee feedback - you can steer your organisation towards a smoother transition.  

By being mindful of these challenges and proactively working to avoid them, you’ll be far more likely to keep your team engaged, minimise resistance, and achieve your desired future state. Fast.