There is nothing as certain as change in life and as the world of work evolves, the lives of organizations continue to head into sporadic change in an unpredictable way.
No wonder, many change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support, but even at that, the need for organizations to change strategies, restructure schemes and transform operations cannot but be embarked upon for organizational growth, sustainability and meeting new demands of conformity.
In a world where employees’ stress levels are already sky-high and concerns for job satisfaction remain alarming, how do you get your team members to become change champions?
Many leaders fret at the thought of change mainly due to the resistance and resentment it usually brings but largely, this is because employees’ concerns regarding the change are mostly unresolved, not acknowledged or not efficiently managed.
If you are looking to get your team members seamlessly on board with you next time you have a change initiative, follow these five steps and you’ll be surprised at what happens.
1. Be the spectator – Inform team members about the upcoming change in good time and ask for ideas on ways to collectively achieve the change, state your intentions and expectations for the change, the immediate pros and cons and the long-term overall benefits, as well as define strategic boundaries for the change and then watch them become your ally in change because you have given them the control on aspects of their work/life, which gives them a sense of appreciation and value.
2. Make room to answer questions – This should be a collective demonstration of openness and extreme transparency by members of the board, senior executives and other team leaders. There should be a plan of tolerance to answer as many questions as possible and should be done strategically whether by setting up fora for questions and answers, dates for debates, meetings, etc. This will help reduce the tension around the process, reduce misinformation among employees and draw more people into alignment with the change process.
3. Stay with your purpose – It is important that the change initiative has a strong purpose that conforms not just with the ideals of the board or senior managers, but across all stakeholders internal and external, including the employees. When employees feel that they are nothing, but numbers and the purpose of change has little or nothing to do with their welfare, fears or worries, they walk out of it. The purpose of the change must be communicated in such a way that everyone feels that all sides have been weighed and everyone involved well considered. Do you know that you could be laying-off employees for different reasons of organizational change and still gain their support? It all depends on how the purpose is being communicated.
4. Recount past achievements – Remind your employees how well they have performed so far, either with a previous change initiative or in current roles and affirm your belief in them in making the new initiative work. This creates collective enthusiasm but would only require that the management follow the enthusiasm with pledged actions, to maintain the momentum throughout the change process.
5. Acknowledge and highlight ideas and feedback- Management should acknowledge the suggestions, ideas and feedback being given and highlight the ones that are most helpful and perhaps progressive for the process as well as explain why other ideas will not be taken and generally feedback regularly on the entire process, so that everyone remains in the loop and continue to feel a part of the process.
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