Organizational change is really about people change. No matter how positive the anticipated change is considered to be it still creates stress and anxiety. It is only when these emotional reactions to change are vented, acknowledged and validated that the change process can effectively move forward through anger and uncertainty to hope and anticipation and finally commitment to the change initiative. A key to moving people in an organization through these phases of the Rollercoaster of Change SM is to be absolutely clear about the reasons for the change and the anticipated future result, even if it is not possible to be clear about all of the steps from here to there. These steps provide an excellent opportunity to involve people in the change process as it evolves.
People support what they help create.
Involving them in the change process creates a much stronger commitment than trying to convince them it is a good idea after all the decisions have been made. Change efforts which fail do so for consistently similar reasons. These reasons have been researched and documented. Change efforts which are successful rely on best practices which have also been researched and documented. To increase the probability of successful change implementation, make sure organizational change agents are identified.