How Organizational Change Positively Impacts Workplace Culture

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know when I say the world is rapidly changing. We see that every single day. It is changing faster than ever, and I believe that to continue to thrive, you can’t stand still. So how do we find the opportunity to transform, accelerate growth, and to create a sustainable future? 

I believe we need to focus on culture. Some organizations have an amazing culture with great values and people who want to make a difference and yet there are still many opportunities to work within our organization, whatever condition, to improve culture by using change management tools and techniques to make adoption simpler and faster.

One of the tools I think is most effective, is the change agent or change liaison network. I learned of this tool in my first change management lead role. Our goal was enterprise-wide change across a large university. We had two-dozen schools and colleges as well as academic units in which every individual would be impacted by this large-scale change. As a change management novice, I couldn’t imagine how we would reach all of these thousands of people, let alone communicate, review business processes, train, and support them through this change. Fortunately, we had experienced leaders who were expert in the discipline of change management, and they mentored me in the process of engaging stakeholders and developing a strong change liaison network. 

The months and years of work on the project, bonded the change liaison group together and the network has been recognized as one of the main contributors to successful adoption. Many of the original members of the group have retired by now, yet the same change agent liaison network continues to exist, twenty-five years later, to sustain and provide support for ongoing change. 

As a leader who is passionate and privileged to mentor others in the tools, techniques, and tactics of change management, I believe providing support and guidance though effective organizational change management methods impacts workplace culture in a positive and significant way.