5 Roadblocks of Change and How to Avoid Them

The following five issues represent the most common roadblocks of change.
Employee Change Resistance
Resistance to change from employees is one of the toughest change roadblocks to overcome. It’s the reason most often cited when change efforts fail, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
How to Overcome Change Resistance:
- Don’t start a project without CEOs, managers, and supervisors “buying in”
- Maintain effective communication through the entirety of the change process
Poor Communication
Although it’s one of the most commonly encountered roadblocks of change, poor communication is a self-inflicted problem on the part of organizational leaders. It’s also one for which companies pay a high price, given that it greatly increases the likelihood of resistance among stakeholders.
How to Prevent Poor Communication:
- Formulate a communication plan, put it in writing, and adhere to it
- Ask for and listen to feedback and address concerns
Lack of Committed Training Resources
Many organizational changes come with a need for education and training. Unfortunately, this is often a neglected aspect of change management, as companies fail to commit sufficient time, resources, and money to delivering effective training.
How to Ensure Effective Training:
- Construct a realistic budget for training design, materials, and human resources
- Choose a competent teacher
- Create a training schedule
Employee Churn During Transition
When employees feel uncertain about the future, they may leave. This is especially true if you’re leading employees through changes involving organizational restructure. A loss of talent during a time of change poses a considerable threat to business performance.
How to Prevent Employee Turnover During Changes
- Enlish your best and brightest employees as change agents
- Maintain effective communication and address employee fears and concerns
- Engage your workforce so they know they're an important part of the change
Busted Budgets
When the cost of a change initiative starts to exceed budget, senior managers get nervous and start looking for ways to cut costs, which could jeopardize the completion of the project. Also, It’s impossible to reverse exceeding the budget once you’ve done it, of course, so for this roadblock, there is only prevention, not a cure.
How to Prevent Initiatives from Exceeding the Budget
- Construct a realistic budget
- Create an action plan for when it’s obvious that costs are expanding too much too fast – what will you do to prevent going over budget?
- Keep meticulous records of expenditures throughout the project and revisit the budget on a frequent and consistent basis
There are other roadblocks of change, but these are the most common. Now that you’re aware of them, and have some strategies to prevent/avoid them, you’re more likely to navigate business changes successfully.
At Asyma Solutions, we have a wealth of practical experience in organizational change and will be your professional partner as you re-engineer old processes or implement new solutions. Please contact us so we can clear the road of change with you.