Getting Employees Onboard For Change
Change. Just the mere thought of dealing with an unknown and having to risk letting go of the old and familiar and taking on the new and unknown is scary. True, things could be better in the long run. But… there’s that nagging thought that things could also be worse. We like predictability. It gives us a sense of security. And yet, today’s workplace is nothing but change.
When considering change, it’s always a good idea to start at the grassroots…with the customer, with those workers who interact with the customer on a regular basis, with the departments who have to make good on the promises given to the customer, and so on, up the line. Successful change comes as a result of feedback at all levels, by everyone who will be affected.
Unfortunately, change often begins with an idea far removed from the people who will be asked to implement it and make it work. This creates problems, since, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details.
But once the decision is made, how do you get people involved in accepting the change that will benefit the organization? The answer is to: 1) get them comfortable feeling uncomfortable in a safe environment; 2) provide exercises where accepting and applying change leads to results that are better than before; 3) draw them into seeing the big picture and realizing that change isn’t initiated to mess up their schedules or disrupt the work flow; and 4) ask for their input so that the change will create the least amount of havoc on their work lives and still achieve the identified goals.
Most companies will say that they don’t have time to go through this rigmarole, change needs to happen NOW and turnaround should be almost immediate. But we know that isn’t how it works. When you aren’t doing a job yourself, you never really know what it entails. What appears to be a one-step process can be much more complicated by constraints you didn’t see, costs that were underestimated, heavy workloads that haven’t been acknowledged, and other factors equally important. On the other hand, when you aren’t planning the change yourself, you never really know what all went into the decision. What appears to be a simple knee-jerk solution may well have entailed page after page of financial forecasts, a savvy analysis of competitors, a close examination of customer feedback, and other facets that led to changes that seemed to be doable and hold the greatest promise.
It’s easy to see that communicating on different levels can distort points of view. Sometimes it takes an objective outsider to bridge the gap and get everyone talking the same language and heading in the same direction.
That’s how Speakers you Need (SyN) can help. We can bring in an expert who knows business, understands where those at the top of the organization are coming from, and has labored at lower levels where the work is cranked out. This person will have a consultative meeting with you to understand your situation, grasp your goals, learn the reservations of the employees, and devise a plan to mediate the various interests so that everyone is on board and on target.
SyN trainers can lead the change implementers through the process of moving from risk aversion to risk acceptance. Using case studies and team activities, participants can choose paths that lead to good ends and some that have unexpected twists and turns. They can experience the complexity of the full scope of a problem, identify possible solutions, weigh consequences, and choose an alternative with the greatest chance of succeeding and the least amount of negative blowback. They can evaluate their decisions after they have been made and executed. By allowing your workers to see a problem and work through solving it, they will better understand how change is determined and why it is needed.
With hands-on opportunities to examine change, your teams will create a cohesive work group that comprehends its part in the change equation and values their roles in making the change successful. With this knowledge of what goes on “behind the curtain”, you will have supporters who appreciate the need for change and the benefits that come from making it happen. And the next time you have a new initiative for the company, you can be sure that these individuals will move forward with an entirely different attitude. You won’t have to push change, it will be incorporated into the work process as something natural and positive and well worth their commitment.
To talk to an SyN representative about helping your employees get more comfortable effecting change in your company contact us today.