And that means processes, systems, and strategies in the workplace must continually change and evolve for an organization to remain competitive.
People say change is good. But sometimes it comes along with a drawback: it usually affects the most important resource, which is your team. Due to frequent changes, sometimes insufficiently communicated, people may choose to migrate to companies where things seem to be more “stable”.
And the loss of people is costly due to the associated recruitment costs and the time involved in familiarizing new employees with the various processes in the company. Every time an employee walks out the door, a lot of knowledge about the business leaves together with him. And that’s why you need a well-developed plan for change management.
What you can do to prevent the negative effects of change in your company
A change management plan can support a smooth transition and ensure that employees are guided on the path to change. Here are some key steps you can take to effectively manage organizational change.
1. Clearly define the change and align it with the broader business objectives
It may seem obvious, but many organizations miss this vital first step. One thing is to talk about the need for change, and another is to perform a critical analysis of necessary change that can really help the organizational and performance goals. The latter helps to ensure that change will lead the business in the right direction.
This step can help you determine the value of the change, which will quantify the effort and resources required from the entire team.
So, the key questions you should answer as clear as possible are:
2. Determine the impact of change and the negative effects that may occur
Once you know exactly what you intend to achieve, you should determine the impact of the change at different organizational levels, both on short and long term.
So, fort this step, the key questions are:
3. Develop a communication strategy, for both short and long term
According to a study conducted by the business consulting firm CEB, the chances of inappropriate behavior of employees during an organizational change can increase by 42% if it is not well communicated.
So, don’t keep people in the dark, but set up a model of constant communication and transparency. One of the worst things that can happen in a change management process is misinformation and spread of gossip among employees. And once the gossip spreads, panic can easily settle in, if there’s absence of clear and regular communication from management.
Representing a large part of each stage of a change, communication must be bidirectional, so that things can run smoothly.
Put quality first at the expense of quantity when it comes to communicating with teammates. And consider the following communication strategies for successfully implementing a plan:
As part of communicating the change, a wise thing you can do is to share a vision about how your organization can benefit from it. For example, you can explain to your team the positive effects of change in your company by showing them what they will experience as result of the transition. What will be the tangible results, and how will those results look like?
Also, help them visualize the concrete rewards, both for them as individuals, as well as for the company, as a whole. By explaining all the benefits they will get, employees will have a better understanding of why organizational change is important. This will be critical to the success of the transition. Clarifying the reasons behind, will help your team reach a group understanding, allowing everybody in the team to work toward the common vision.
For example, to survive the disruption of pandemics, during last 2 years, many companies took rapid organizational change initiatives, such as embracing remote work. Most of the companies that have adapted successfully to the change took a transparent position in their efforts. They ensured to communicate a clear vision to their employees.
4. Adjust goals or set new ones, if required
Organizations will always need to align changes with the criteria for evaluating, compensating, and promoting performance. During times of uncertainty, employees will want to know how changes will affect the manner in which their performance is assessed. So, when change happens, make sure you adjust adjust performance goals to keep them aligned to the new state of facts.
Managing employees through changing periods and mitigating negative effects of change in your company requires intuition, a good listening ability and effective communication skills. Done right, change management can help a leader gain respect and loyalty. Otherwise, the negative effects can be felt by both the top level of the organization, and the operational staff.
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