Businesses are always growing and changing, and sometimes
these changes are not to the benefit of your employees. But even beneficial
changes can provoke resistance and opposition as employees may not see how they
benefit or be convinced that it heralds other bad changes. Furthermore, your
veteran and most valuable employees may be among the biggest opponents to
change, as they are used to routine and the way things are.
Managers thus have a duty to help employees adapt to a changing environment to reduce their anxiety and keep morale high. Here are some tips that can help and keep your business more flexible in a more competitive and changing world.
2. Don’t Attack the Past
When you are introducing a new change, it can be tempting to
attack the old ways of doing things and talk about how everything will be so
much better. This is a bad idea for multiple reasons. Those employees who liked
the way things were will feel alienated. It also makes you look less competent,
as the frequent counter is “Well, why didn’t you make this change sooner if you
thought things were so bad?”
Instead, acknowledge the advantages of sticking to the old ways, and then talk about how the new ways will make things better for everyone. If you stay positive about the new and old, it will be easier for changes to be accepted.
3. Understand Employee Reactions and Get Feedback
No matter the kind of change, the reactions which employees
have can be generally divided into a few categories. Toronto marketing firm,
notes that anger, doubt, uncertainty, resistance are among the most common
problematic reactions, and that different kinds of changes are more likely to
provoke a certain response. For example, technological changes are more likely
cause uncertainty as opposed to anger since many workers will become worried
about whether they will be replaced by machines.
But understanding what to do for each response is useless if you have no idea what your workplace’s general mood is. Hold a forum or meeting where you openly discuss the change to prevent rumors, and ask for feedback. If you can show that you are genuinely interested in your workers’ concerns and understand their feelings, this will go a long ways towards blunting those negative emotions.
4. Embrace Disagreement
It can be tempting to blast those who
are extremely unhappy with the change as stupid, belligerent, or other similar
adjectives. But if you want a cohesive, harmonious workplace, or even harmony
among students at top boarding schools, you must embrace
disagreement instead of attempting to stamp it out. Resistance should be
treated as a honest but fair disagreement, and those who disagree should feel
free to speak their minds. In fact, the Harvard Business Review points out that
well-managed disagreements can lead to more opportunities to grow, better job
satisfaction, and other benefits.
Instead of trying to eliminate wrong think, encourage those who disagree to speak out. Before implementing a change, take some time to figure out which workers are most likely to be unhappy. When you hold a forum or meeting as discussed above, call out those particular workers for their thoughts. Let them speak their thoughts and try your best to address their concerns instead of letting them stew in their own resentment.
5. Change In Response to Feedback
Actions speak louder than words, and employees will notice
if they complain about changes, you talk about how you appreciate their
thoughts, and then do nothing.
When employees make complaints, file them under changes you can make and changes you cannot make. The absolute worst thing you can do at a time like this is to make a promise which you cannot deliver on, as that will shatter employee trust and morale. Address the changes you can make, and fix them as quickly as possible. While some employees may still be unhappy, others will understand that you are doing everything you can to make the transition as smooth as possible.
6. Train and Prepare
Even workers who may be enthusiastic to change may be
worried about whether they can learn and adapt to new processes and
technologies. As a manager, it is your responsibility to make sure they can.
Unfortunately, many managers seem to think of
training as paying some consultant to deliver a lecture and nothing more. But SHRM and anyone in human resources can tell
you that for training to stick, your business must create a learning culture
where employees are free to try out new ideas and feel empowered. Managers must
say that it is okay to fail, and that new reforms can create new opportunities
for employee to reach their potential and attain a better life. By providing
training programs and learning opportunities alongside key changes, you show
that you are interested in helping workers adjust to new circumstances and that
they have nothing to be afraid of.