From the sales conversation to company leadership. Tailored development for teams and managers. Experience since 2001, multinational clients and a specialisation in pharmaceutical companies.
New roles, new routines
Change Management: From Leadership Plans to Everyday Work
A new organisational structure has been approved, but the team still turns to its former manager for decisions. At ED Development, our change management work helps leaders prepare managers and employees for new responsibilities, working practices and ways of collaborating, so the intended change becomes part of everyday work.
From decisions to action
What is change management?
Change management prepares people for new ways of working. It links leadership decisions with support for managers and the adoption of new practices within teams.
Change management combines preparing managers to lead change with introducing new ways of working across the company.
At ED Development, we work on changes in behaviour, processes and sales models. We clarify new roles and working practices and identify the support needed to make the change work in practice.
What we work on
What we address when implementing organisational change
We work with your company’s specific plans for change. We clarify which decisions need to be made and which capabilities managers and teams will need for implementation.
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Impact on roles
How change affects roles and decision-making
We clarify changes to responsibilities, decision-making authority and dependencies between roles. We build on the priorities set by your business strategy. We identify the impact on specific roles and the decisions that need to be made before implementation.
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Manager readiness
Preparing managers to lead change
Managers need to understand both the purpose of the change and their own role. We clarify managers’ decision-making authority and the support senior leaders will provide during implementation. We prepare them to speak with their teams, explain expectations and handle difficult situations.
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Communication
Communicating with teams and addressing concerns
We identify what information different employee groups need and how the change affects them directly. We work with questions and objections from real workplace situations. Managers prepare clear explanations and agree how they will gather feedback.
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New working practices
New working practices and collaboration across teams
We translate the intended change into working agreements and specific actions. We focus on task handovers, decision-making and collaboration between departments. We regularly review how new practices are being used and address obstacles to their adoption in day-to-day operations.
Common change challenges
When your company needs change management support
We can work with you while you are planning a change or when implementation is already under way and running into difficulties.
- Following a reorganisation, responsibilities change but decisions still go to the previous managers.
- Strategy changes, but processes, collaboration and performance management stay the same.
- A new sales model has been approved, but teams continue to work in the same way.
- Managers explain the same change differently, leaving employees with conflicting information.
- Local teams need a clear plan for putting a corporate decision into practice.
- A change in one department affects others that were not involved in preparing it.
- People repeatedly flag obstacles that remain unaddressed during implementation.
- Several projects running in parallel rely on the same managers and employees.
- The implementation deadline has been met, but old habits persist in day-to-day work.
How we work
How we work with you on change management
We agree the scope of support based on the stage of the change, its impact and the involvement of senior leaders, HR and the managers responsible for implementation.
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Agreeing the outcome and scope of the change
We clarify the vision, strategy and objectives for the change, the expected outcome, the teams affected and the decisions still to be made. We identify what needs to change in people’s work. Training needs analysis can provide a more detailed assessment of managers’ development needs.
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Preparing managers and planning implementation
Through consultations and workshops, we clarify expectations, responsibilities, communication and the sequence of actions. Managers use examples of situations and conversations they face at work. We agree how they will explain expectations to their teams and address unresolved questions.
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Supporting implementation in everyday work
We support managers as they put the agreements into practice with their teams. During ongoing consultations, we review their experiences of implementation and any barriers to collaboration. We distinguish between issues that call for skills development and those that require a new decision from senior leaders.
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Reviewing implementation and making adjustments
At agreed review points, we assess how people are using the new practices. We compare what happens in practice with expectations and identify any persistent problems. We agree how managers will continue to support the new ways of working.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- since1993Management experience
- 25+Years of business development
- 60+Multinational clients
Didn’t find your answer?Elena Demeková, CEO and Senior Consultant
How does change management differ from project management?
Project management focuses on planning and delivering a solution, including its scope, resources and deadlines. Change management supports the people who need to work with that solution. The two disciplines complement each other. The distinction is explained in Prosci’s definition of change management. When reorganising a company, you therefore need to prepare managers for new decision-making authority and ways of collaborating as you introduce the new structure.
How should you communicate change to employees?
Explain why the change is happening and what it means for the work of each group. Distinguish between decisions already made, open questions and opportunities for people to contribute. Agree who will answer questions and when they will provide further information. The link between communication and readiness for change is explored in HBS Online’s article on communicating organisational change. We therefore also prepare managers for the conversations that follow.
How do you address resistance to change?
First, understand what is causing the specific reaction. Someone may disagree with the reason for the change, be unclear about a new task or be raising a concern about insufficient capacity. An objection may also highlight an operational risk. Depending on the cause, the response may involve further explanation, skills development or changes to the approach. At ED Development, we choose the next step based on the specific cause and the options available to the manager.
How do you prepare managers for organisational change?
Managers need to understand the change and what they can influence. Preparation covers explaining expectations, discussing concerns and giving feedback as new practices are introduced. Their own situation also matters when their role or team is changing. Relevant skills can be developed through our leadership and people management programme.
How do you manage change during a company reorganisation?
Clarify new decision-making authority, the handover of ongoing work and collaboration between departments. Managers need to know which decisions they can make independently. Elena Demeková has worked on strategic transformation and restructuring projects for FRESENIUS KABI in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In similar projects, we also prepare managers to lead teams whose responsibilities or decision-making processes are changing.
How long does it take to put a change into practice?
The timescale depends on the scope of the change, managers’ readiness and team capacity. We agree a schedule once the brief has been clarified, with milestones linked to specific actions. We also agree in advance how you will tell whether the new practices are being used. For example, we might look at how decisions are approved or tasks are handed over. After implementation, we also check how the change works day to day.
