Change management for hybrid working

Introduction

Your role within an organisation will influence how comfortable you are with change. If you are responsible for driving and delivering change initiatives, it can be easy to focus on the desired outcomes rather than the journey you need to take people on.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced accelerated changes in the workplace and in personal lives. The impact is that people’s resilience to change will have grown for some, but for others, change will be something they are fearful of. The impact for change leaders is that the focus on people is now more important than ever, not only considering the wellbeing of those involved but also expectations, especially when working in hybrid organisations, where one size will not fit all.

This course aims to help you take a change initiative you need to implement, focusing on the approaches, frameworks, and tools you can use to manage the process in a more caring way, and take a sustainable human-centred approach to change, by putting the needs of people at the heart of your initiative and considering more sustainable ways of working.

We focus on functional and operational changes that help organisations deliver their strategies, rather than organisational changes, as these tend to be the change initiatives that most members of an organisation frequently experience.

To assist with thinking about change and organisational development in a different way, the ‘Hybrid ways of working: a contextual sustainability framework’ illustrated below has been designed for this collection to highlight the key areas you need to consider when thinking about organisational development. As many organisations and higher education institutions (HEIs) continue to evolve their hybrid practice, how you work and plan for the long term is essential. You need to balance the needs of your stakeholders and organisation while embracing and adapting to external factors to successfully meet strategic objectives.

The framework helps you to consider and understand your organisational context and needs from key perspectives.

1. You and your ways of working should take account of the key stakeholders within your environment and their needs in relation to organisational development.
2. You need to understand organisational requirements; the context, connections, and requirements for key areas of focus; and how these relate to the needs of your stakeholders.
3. You need to consider your ways of working for the wellbeing of future generations.

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Figure 1 Hybrid ways of working: a contextual sustainability framework

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Image shows three concentric circles around a central circle containing the word ‘YOU’. In the first of the outer circles (labelled 1), there are arrows pointing outwards from the central circle to the words Team(s), Organisation, Individuals, Community and Students, which are spaced evenly around the circle. Each of these terms have double-headed arrows connecting them to each other. The next circle out (labelled 2) surrounds the first and contains the terms Digital Transformation, People, Places, Sustainability, Values and Culture and Compliance. These are evenly spaced around the second circle and double-headed arrows sit between each term. The outer circle (labelled 3) has the words Long term, Prevention, Integration, Involvement and Collaboration spaced out around the circle with double-headed arrows connecting each term. Beside each term is an icon to represent it. The words and the circles show the interconnection between, stakeholder, organisation needs and ways of working. 

Figure 1 Hybrid ways of working: a contextual sustainability framework

In this course we do not focus on how to establish what you need to change. If you are new to planning for change, you may find it useful to study the Hybrid working: planning for the future [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] course, which provides approaches for planning and focusing on what change is needed.