Natalie Gordon offers her plan for surviving and thriving during an organisational change programme - as both a leader and a follower.

We've heard it all before. In the current climate of M&A mania, we're constantly being told to embrace change. We have to be leaner and faster; to create more growth and more profit. And we have to impress the new owners of our organisations with ever more ambitious plans. Does that sound familiar? More and more of us belong to companies that have recently merged or been bought by private equity - and that means new people with new ideas are at the top. Whatever level you are at in your organisation, there are practical things you can do to survive the inevitable changes that are on their way.

If you have just been given the task of leading change in your organisation, the chances are that you have a sense of trepidation at this stage. This is a healthy sign. If it were an easy job, no one would bother writing about it. As former US president John Adams said: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

It's a tall order, so where do you start? Your first task should be to create a vision for the first 100, 300 or 600 days. This needs to be something that you can articulate in one sentence, explaining what your organisation will become and by when. And the first question to ask yourself about the new vision is whether it inspires you or not. If it doesn't, it's unlikely to inspire anyone else. Once you have the right vision, it's easier to work out your journey towards it, planning what the main achievements will be along the way and how you will reach them.

So now you have a clear vision and you know how you're going to try to achieve it, but do you and your fellow leaders have the ability to lead the transformation? This requires a high level of self-awareness, as you will need to face some brutal truths about yourself and your company. For example, how connected are you to your organisation? This is an important issue, because you will need to empathise with its members and mobilise them, removing barriers, seeing through the politics and bringing the vision to life. Placing a high value on innovation will also be vital in creating solutions to apparently intractable problems - something that can be done only in a climate of trust, collaboration and creativity. As a change leader, you need to stay focused on what needs to be done. The ability to see clearly what must change and in what order is key, as is knowing what can remain the same. To do this, you need a robust framework in which to operate, with clear accountabilities, goals and review mechanisms.

Know what you are asking of your people. Whatever change theory you subscribe to, one thing is a given: change is emotional and people will respond to it differently at different stages. From the outset you need to consider how people will feel and react. Something that you can certainly influence is how you behave. If you can alter your behaviour appropriately to the situation and coach others to do the same, you will have a better chance of reaching your desired outcomes.

To convince people to change, find innovative ways to communicate the urgency of the need and alter something small but significant that indicates to the entire organisation how committed you are personally. At the same time, expect people to push back - either by blatantly refusing to co-operate or, perhaps, by agreeing to something but never quite finding the time to follow it through. It could be useful to identify who really supports the change and give them a position of influence. Likewise, by identifying the most influential resistors, you can find out why they're against the change and work out how to win them over. Engage your workforce, involving people at every level. As John Kotter, emeritus professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, argues: "Individuals alone, no matter how competent or charismatic, never have all the assets needed to overcome tradition and inertia."

You should create your vision with your management team, communicate it to everyone and then set up small teams throughout the organisation to work on specific problem areas. Once you have their initial backing, you can maintain it by ensuring that they have the resources they need and that they're all using the same tools to review their progress and report back to you. Small teams visibly working on change projects will be noticed quickly, which will help to build the momentum you need, particularly if you have a well-structured internal communications system in place.

If you're not in a leadership role, you'll be able to see something big coming down the line towards you. First, be true to yourself: are you reacting from an emotional ("I don't like this"), political ("what's in it for me?") or rational ("where's the plan?") standpoint? Do you believe in it, or, more crucially, do you want to believe in it? If you're unsure, the best place to start is to seek some information. Talk to your line manager and find out when the next communication event is scheduled. Sort out the myths from the facts and avoid "emotional vampires" who will suck you dry of energy by telling you why this is wrong for you, the organisation and business in general. Look to the positives.

Get involved. Heard about the work groups springing up around the organisation? Find out how you can participate in them. This change may not be for you, but you won't be able influence it if you disengage. Typically, any organisation going through a big change will expect to lose some of its workforce because they don't fit with the new vision. Don't let that be you just because you haven't bothered to find out how to make it work for you.

Whether you are asked to lead or support the process, there comes a point when delivering change becomes part of everybody's day job. To reach that stage with as little pain as possible, you will need to work fast, stay focused, be flexible, cope with the demands of ambiguity and take control of your own destiny. So don't let change happen to you - be the one making it.

The people who survive change will be those who embrace it, taking the lead and taking others with them so that the whole organisation is moving in the same direction.

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Natalie Gordon is senior consultant at Egremont Group, UK. This article is contributed by CIMA (The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) and it first appeared in Financial Management, CIMA's monthly magazine for its members.