As the Red Queen told Alice, “My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.” This is often true with most companies, they must grow or the competition will leave them behind. In order to grow faster they must also make changes in their processes. The key to effectively managing change is to create a culture that is willing to embrace change as the new norm. To be effective, you must ensure the whole organization understands that the status quo will no longer be acceptable. The first step in creating a change-management culture is to get everyone’s head wrapped around some very basic definitions:

Management
Organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies in order to achieve clearly defined objectives

Change
To cause to be different

Change Management
A structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state

Change Agent
A person effective at change management