Managing change continues to be at the top of the corporate leadership agenda and is often seen as a core leadership development issue.

We all face changes every day at work and in life – whether it is a simple change in the weather, our schedule, or an expected change of seasons.

Change affects us all and how we handle it varies from person to person and from situation to situation.

Today more than ever, organizations are meeting increased resistance to change as employees and leaders alike are becoming weary of the constant change happening in organizations.

Part of the challenge is what we actually consider change management issues. Too often the leadership disregards subjects as potential change management issues and cast them as business as usual. These may be business as usual to you, but to your staff, it feels like ‘here we go again.’

I’ve identified seven organizational change management issues, even if you don’t categorize them as such.

#1: Technology

Whether it is a software change, new hardware, operating system, or even procedural adjustments, technology changes cause stress and discomfort for many. IT departments are famous for implementing changes with limited consideration for training or how folks are going to adapt to the new technology.

#2: New Leadership 

The CEO and leadership of departments are likely to change over time. The longer someone held their role, the more difficult the adjustment to a new leader will be for staff. Despite being a leader who may have been feared or disliked, they were still is the devil one knows.

#3: Mergers and/or Acquisitions

Even if your company purchased another business, the staff often fears what this means to them. Will their job be eliminated because of duplication? Will they now have a new boss? Will their role change? Fear and gossip run rampant and become an often-overlooked change management issue.

#4: Downsizing/no promotions/salary freezes or reorgs 

This one seems obvious; however, I often hear from clients that after the initial coddling period leadership simply wants people to suck it up and go back to work. Don’t expect it to be that easy.

#5: Office relocation

This doesn’t have to be a move far away or closing a location. It can be moving the office down the street. The thing to remember is people by nature are nesters. When they come to work, they like to know where everything is and feel settled. It takes some time for many to adjust to a new location/environment and feather their nest again.

#6: Rapid growth

This doesn’t seem like a change management issue; after all, growth is good. Consider these factors, however: Often rapid growth is poorly managed; the infrastructure necessary to support the growth is not in place, and leaders are making it up on the fly.

The inconsistencies in direction and the uncertainty this causes push this to the top of the list of change management issues.

#7: Staff changes

This goes beyond leadership changes. Any time new people are added or people leave, it changes the dynamics of the team and the organization. Assuming a new person will simply ‘slide right in’ is naïve.

Some of these are fairly obvious but we often overlook them as significant enough to implement a change management process. Yet anything that causes change has the potential to become a change management issue.

I encourage you to rethink what you consider change management issues. This shift is likely to have a more positive impact than you can imagine.