Change Successfully

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

If it’s not one thing, it’s another – either technology is changing, structures are changing, or the economy, or all three at once, or something else again. So when leadership announces to employees another organizational change, is it any wonder there is usually a collective groan from change-fatigued workers who get defensive at the idea.

Patti Sanchez in her excellent article ‘The Secret to Leading Organizational Change is Empathy’, (read it here), addresses this touchy issue and offers leaders some sound advice: how information is communicated to employees during a change matters more then what information is communicated. Sanchez builds a strong case for communicating empathetically, while being honest enough to admit most leaders don’t know how.

Following are the headline three strategies leaders can implement to make the next change process smoother:

  1. Profile Your Audience at Every Stage: Take the time to identify the key groups of employees based on how they might feel about the proposed changes, then plan communications to address them accordingly. Typically they may be excited, frightened or even frustrated.
  2. Tell People What to Expect: so the more informed people are, the more they will be able to process the discomfort they may feel. While this should be a no-brainer, it seems to be a non-starter for most leaders. Trust your employees and just tell them what is going on.
  3. Involve Individuals at All Levels: Unless there is broad involvement, the change just won’t happen.

These look so common sense, and yet few leaders actually take the time to put them into practice, thus stymieing their transformation process. Do you think you could at least try these the next time you are involved in change? And the Avondale Business School (ABS) can help you with this, just contact Dr Warrick Long [email protected] to find out how.