The 21st century is an age of perpetual or continuous change, a fact that can daunt the most progressive leader. To meet the challenge of on-going change successfully, insight and strategies that support change management initiatives at all organizational levels are needed. A myriad of change management models, theories, tactics, and processes exist to help leaders plan and implement change. After working with many of these within healthcare practice, education and research, I have narrowed effective change down to six distinct principles – principles that all leaders should keep in mind as they manage change within their organizations.
These key principles are: transparency, agency, readiness, adaptation, voice and sustenance. The application of these change principles can guide huge time-intensive changes such as implementing electronic health records as well as less intense yet continuous changes such as adapting to new versions of tried and true software.
