You’ve heard the saying, “change is good” and for the most part it is. However in order for it to be really good, change needs to be handled carefully especially in the business environment. Change can be driven from many directions including upper management, customer demands and government regulation. You can find change methodologies in numerous forms including project management, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) along with hundreds of books written by change experts. Ultimately though, how change takes place in your organization and its success is up to you. To save you the time of sorting through pages and pages of documentation here are four basic steps to get you moving in the right direction.
Plan–Seems obvious enough, but this phase should consider all the tasks that will have to take place for success. For example, impact to daily operations and finances should be planned to prevent surprises during the process. Ask tough questions such as is the change really necessary, why the change and what the overall cost is along with how much return on investment. Preparing a document or presentation that will “sell” the steps you’re about to take will be an excellent mini-business plan for the project.
Communicate–Nothing is more demoralizing to employees than to hear of coming changes through rumor and hear-say. Communicating clearly and often removes the fear that so often accompanies upcoming change. Keeping employees and other stake-holders in the know also helps to bring them in alliance with the company and the teams in charge. Many times they may have important input into the entire process that will assist with the planning phase. Remember that the question employees want answered most during this time is, “how will this all affect me”? Do your best to respond openly and honestly.
Testing–Pilots and run-throughs can be a key step to making sure the change is going to work successfully, whether it’s a new way of handling customers, an updated software application or an over-haul of the company payroll system. Experiment with small targeted groups and measure the success. Be sure to analyze factors that will affect when numbers increase dramatically. While your new server may handle 25 users efficiently how will it handle 250?
Document–Most importantly any time changes are made, document what is going to happen as well as the progress through the process. This on-going step will show what has taken place and what particular steps were most successful. Write it in such a way that any reader will be able to follow the story from beginning to the current state. Written well, it may end up being a guiding document for other departments or efforts done in the future.
Making change “good” can be accomplished by spending some upfront time. Besides these steps, consider reading up on cases studies done by companies in your industries. Learn from their mistakes so you don’t make the same.

Ted Saul is a project manager and business coach specializing in helping small businesses plan and grow. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .