Often introduced, sometimes successful but seldom welcomed, change strategies
By Caryl Lucarelli

have long been a part of corporate planning for decades. Most veteran employees at larger companies have been through at least two attempts to implement change programs. Often jaded by the process, these individuals can become resistant to any new attempts to introduce change.

The definition of change itself suggests a potentially uncomfortable process: The process of becoming different. Change happens all around us through economic globalization, community activism, political regimes, competitive pressures and technological innovation. An organization that embraces, encourages and manages change will successfully navigate its way to success. An individual who not only embraces change but “ideates” changes can lead the organization to new heights of success.

We’ve all heard of, and likely participated in, a formal change management program. In the 1980s, for example, most large companies adopted the structured Total Quality Management (TQM) program as the magic elixir for growth and financial success. Several programmatic solutions had been identified prior to TQM and several have evolved since as companies continue to search for a formal structure to manage change. Unfortunately, in introducing such programs, companies often introduced new structures of bureaucracy that diminished the accountability of individuals and the empowerment of managers. Today, most TQM programs have ended; however, the key elements of change that they produced have survived, and now have just become part of daily life.

What most corporate leaders failed to see is that effective change management does not come through a formal organizational structure or program. It comes from the heart of the organization—its people—their values, their flexibility, their passion for success, their willingness to constructively challenge the status quo, their openness to try something new and their appetite for risk taking. Change is most often successful and sustained when embraced and even initiated at the grassroots level.

Communication is a key component to effecting change. You need to have open and honest conversations about what’s happening in the marketplace, with your competition and, most importantly, within your own open to input from all those involved and, finally, translating it into meaningful steps that each participant can understand will lead to greater acceptance and sustainability of the change.

Change is most often successful and sustained when embraced and even initiated at the grassroots level.

While you must continually scan your environment to identify opportunities to introduce meaningful change, change for the mere sake of change is a recipe for failure. New processes that only create more work and for which neither short- nor long-term benefits are evident, should not be undertaken. Similarly, it’s important to recognize that the timing may not be right to pursue change, or that it might make sense to eliminate a change that’s no longer needed.

To help with all of the change-related decision points, Tech Data has created a toolkit. It contains resources to help employees and managers alike to adapt to and manage change more effectively. The toolkit contains templates, tips, tools, resources, plans, assessments and training to help everyone in the organization become effective change agents. We also created a guiding counsel set up to assist employees at all levels of the organization with change initiatives. These resources can be applied to day-to-day work at Tech Data and also are useful to lead change in our lives outside of work.

The goal is to no longer think of change as a separate process that happens to us but, rather, as part of the overall organizational culture. A cultural evolution that imbeds change leadership as a way of life is key to any organizations’ success, whether it’s a large distributor like Tech Data or a much smaller solution provider.