Managing Change: Understand Your Employees First
Change is now pretty much inevitable in work, whether that means responding to market volatility or implementing major change programmes.
But businesses still struggle to manage change, and despite the all of the 'knowledge' that we not have about it - the methodologies, the models, the experiences - it still usually boils down to people.But! Have you ever stopped to think that the same people that seem to resist (let's call it the "R" word) change at work might outside it be going through some incredible transformations of their own? People are incredibly adaptable and will even seek out change because they enjoy it - just try and get a picture of how many 'personal projects' your employees have on the go at any point in time.
So why does business change so often fail to deliver its intended benefits?
Many businesses start badly by trying to implement change in a culture that has been built around meeting objectives, following processes and generally trying to make life more predictable and less risky.
You can create conditions in which people are more likely to be open to change. It's just that most businesses choose not to, or don't realise.
Then, those senior managers that actually use some kind of methodology will probably create a "vision" but it will probably just talk their own language, about creating shareholder value and other meaninglessly rational business benefits. Meanwhile, employees are probably asking themselves, "will I still be able to work with my friends?", "will I lose that tiny bit of control that I currently have over my work?", or "just tell me what you expect from me".
Do you really understand your employees? Do you know what will turn them on or off? Do you try to communicate with them or just talk at them?
They may then pluck some unwitting "volunteers" from the business to be "change agents". These change agents are told that they should "champion" the change and tell everyone how great it is. Not that they really understand it, nor realise why they were nominated by their bosses.
Anyone and everyone can be a change agent. It is better to empower people to "champion" the change through their own volition than it is to have ineffective change agents that have been "selected" by the business.
Then comes the training. Many thousands of pounds are spent giving people the skills they need for their new role/to use the new system/to operate in the new organisation and no-one can figure why the learning is not applied.
Training an engaged workforce that is hungry to learn the skills they need is easy. Training a workforce that doesn't really get why they are there, or doesn't want to be there, is likely to be a massive waste of money.
Don't waste time pushing change from the top, using rational, process-driven methodologies and talking in rational 'business speak' at employees that you simply haven't taken the time to understand.
Understand your employees and what they really care about, and you'll find it all an awful lot easier. In fact, you might even stop using the "R" word....
Find out how by visiting our Employee Research pages, viewing our Case Studies or by calling +44 (0)1509 228896 for a no-strings conversation.
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