What’s HR’s Role in Change Management?

Is human resources (HR) the organizational function that must lead when dealing with organizational change? Or is managing change a fundamental leadership competency that a wide array of people from every function should have or develop?

Management is too important to be left to the managers! Or to HR area!

One person or one single area can’t change the organizational culture. What you can change is your own behavior and the influence you have over others.

The HR department has to ensure that employees are motivated to undertake the change and participate in the change management program. For this to happen, they need to recruit and develop the right people who can think out of the box and can bring a fresh perspective to the table.

Furthermore, HR people are part of a strategic process in the organization, where they support the understanding of:

• Do our leaders share a common vision for the change and its full business potential?
• How does our leadership model fit with the change? 
• What aspects of our culture will help support the change and what will hinder it? 
• What has our history of change been; do we tend to embrace or resist it? 
• How are people reacting to the changes and the implications for them? 
• What do they feel they are losing and what might they gain? 
• How clear is it to them what will change and when? 
• How can we support them until the new order is business as usual?
• How to communicate all the informations?

When people have been helped to understand why change is happening and been allowed to explore their sense of loss or anger at the upheaval, when they have been helped to manage the confusion or anxiety they feel and been encouraged, when the time is right, to see the positives in the new order, they become ready to embrace and work creatively with the vision of the future.

A major contribution HR can make in any change process is understanding the architecture, ensuring it is applied, and educating everyone involved.