8 PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

Many times, the implementation of changes in the supply chain fails. Why are changes so difficult? The three most common obstacles to change are:

• Employee Resilience
• Interruption of communication
• Rotation of staff during the transition

All this is because of uncertainty, fear and mistrust. It is the leader's responsibility to soften these obstacles: change management is the right approach.

Change management is a critical part of any project for staff to accept new processes, technologies, systems, structures and values. It is the set of activities that help your people move from their current way of working to the desired way of working.

Change management is also the continuous process of aligning your organization with your market, and making it more responsive and effective than competitors.

Organizations often make common mistakes that will complicate their change efforts. As a result, new supply chain strategies are not well implemented, reengineering of supply chain processes takes too long, and quality and improvement programs do not deliver expected results: expected savings will not be realized and ROI will be unsatisfactory.

Therefore, if you are going to launch a supply chain transformation in your company, reconsider your understanding of the complexity of a change management initiative and your important role and responsibilities in leading and supporting change.

8 MISTAKES DRIVING CHANGE EFFORTS

• Allowing too much complacency
• Not getting leadership support
• Underestimating the power of vision
• Not clearly communicating the vision
• Allow obstacles that block the new vision
• Do not seek short-term achievements (quick-wins)
• Declare victory too soon
• Refusing to anchor changes firmly in the culture

8 PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT

• Establish a sense of urgency. Showing a sense of urgency is the first and most critical step in a successful change effort. With little urgency and complacency, the change effort cannot take off.
• Form a powerful coalition to guide the process. It is important to have the right people who are fully committed to the change initiative, who are respected within the organization, and who have the power and influence to drive the change effort at their levels.
• Create a vision. While it is important to create a shared need and urgency for change to push people into action, it is the vision that will lead them in a new direction.
• Communicate the vision. Once a vision and strategy have been developed, they must be communicated to the organization for understanding and acceptance. Sending clear, credible and honest messages about the direction of change sets a genuine acceptance at the first level, setting the stage for the next step: getting people to act.
• Empowering others to act according to the vision. Empowerment action should be seen as removing barriers for those whom we want to help drive the change effort. Removing the obstacles should inspire, promote optimism and build trust around the change effort.
• Plan and create short-term achievements. Short-term achievements nurture faith in the change effort, emotionally reward workers, keep critics at bay, and generate momentum. By creating short-term victories and being honest with comments, progress is made and people are inspired.
• Consolidate improvements and produce even more change. In successful efforts, people use this momentum to realize the vision by maintaining urgency, eliminating unnecessary and exhausting work, and not declaring victory prematurely.
• Institutionalize new approaches. By creating a new, supportive, and sufficiently strong organizational culture, change must remain. A supportive culture provides roots for new ways of operating.

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