Bob Dylan sang about “the times they are a’ changing” way back in 1964 reflecting the significant upheaval that was occurring. Sixty years later, change is one of the consistent things about life – just when we think things are stable and we know what is going on, BANG! Change slaps us in the face and challenges us to be flexible when sometimes we just want to pull the doona over our heads and go back to sleep!

Change in the workplace is not always negative or scary as it can bring exciting and new opportunities that can take our businesses into new and unchartered areas that can make them successful in a way we hadn’t planned. It’s how we respond, and how we lead our people that can take such opportunities forward.

Sometimes there is a sense of safety in doing what we have always done but more often than not, the same old thinking leads to the same old results. To move forward we all need to adjust, adapt and review processes which means change is inevitable in any business that wants to be successful. Sometimes it is not the idea or the change that we fail on, it’s how we manage the launch and implementation of the change.

If you don’t have your team on board then the great idea or plans for change are at higher risk of failing. How you manage change can determine whether or not you will have a successful outcome. There are some easy steps to follow to ensure you have the whole team driving in the same direction when you try to initiate change…..

What? And don’t forget Why, Who, Where, When?

To implement change, you need to fully flesh out what it is, why you are doing it, who it impacts within your business, when and where it will occur. Change for change’s sake is a pointless and an often fruitless exercise. You need to invest some time into understanding what the change is and extrapolate that out to determine why a change is necessary or advantageous. You also need to determine who it will impact and when it will occur and where. You also need to be able to clearly articulate the desired outcome and how this will impact the department or the business overall.
What may feel like onerous ground work can save a lot of heartache as you will be able to establish stumbling blocks and resolve problems before you go live. You will have engaged the right people and put the necessary infrastructure in place to support the new process or product and you have set yourself and your team up with a much greater chance of success.

In the past, I have seen brilliant new ideas fall over when put into practice because there was no work done to understand the what, why, who where or when.

A recent example of this was when a new General Manager came into a business I was supporting. The Projects Administrator had recently worked hard with both me and the broader team to implement and roll out a really easy to use, transparent, project management system. Everything was working really well. The new GM came along who had a passion for old-school excel spreadsheets and was not interested in learning this “new-fangled computer wizardry”. To be fair, it was a basic project management tool and there was no witchcraft involved.

Nonetheless, without consulting the project managers, project administrator, factory/ production team or estimators (i.e. all the key stakeholders who would be impacted by any changes) he replaced the system that had been working well and implemented an old school, manual system that took them backwards instead of forwards, resulting in the complete disengagement of all staff and a negative impact on production and project delivery. The main thing the GM delivered thanks to this change was some very unsatisfied employees and some work for me as key staff were so disillusioned by the whole thing that they took their skills and knowledge elsewhere

While this is an extreme example, it shows the errors really clearly:

• No consultation to understand if there was a problem to fix in the first place
• No consultation with any team or person that would be impacted
• No research into alternate methods or options available
• No communication or attempt to get buy in from the team
• An arrogant approach with ‘my brain is better than all of you’ that backfired spectacularly.

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to hear that the GM in question didn’t end up working out, and then the business had some real work to do! (Side message: be careful of allowing new senior managers the autonomy to run things their way in their first months of employment – it can cause you more pain in the long run! Provide clear direction that changes nee to be considered over time once the new leader really understands the business!)

Communicate, Include, Engage, Communicate Some More

You’ve got a great concept that you think will drive new business as well as reinvigorate the spending habits of longer term clients. First point of call is to sell it internally and get your teams on aboard. Bring together representatives from all areas of the business that this change will affect. Give them the overview of the initiative, the potential positives and negatives and the reasons behind the change. Then open this up to the team for feedback.

Communication is key here – allowing your team to provide feedback on how and what they need to do to bring this idea to life will drive a sense of ownership and subsequently they will be more engaged in making it a success. You are best to use 1% of 100 brains rather than 10% of one. You will be surprised as to what may come out of this communication process that you might not have previously considered that could save you time, money and damage to the business.

Allow ALL of the Feedback

It is crucial to fully understand all the effects the change will impose on every part of the business. If these are not addressed properly then you will not have the full support of the team and as you know, their engagement is directly linked to the success of the new plan. Change will not always be greeted with the same enthusiasm or disagreement by the varying departments and personalities within your business. Invite discussion but be clear that the feedback needs to be constructive and can’t simply be a negative response to possible changes. Give your team some time to absorb and process what is being presented before they respond so you minimise the emotional throwing the toys out of the cot response to scary change. One great way to accomplish positive and constructive feedback is to give a clear that direction that any feedback should be accompanied by an alternate option or solution to consider.

It is important that key stakeholders (or representatives from the various groups) have an opportunity to provide insightful and useful feedback that will allow you to put in place steps that will address and minimise these concerns.

You may not singlehandedly be able to fix all issues that arise but these can then become side projects that are then managed by the team most impacted by the challenge. Again, this drives ownership and provides a positive response to constructive feedback. Listening to, and actively responding to feedback will allow you to be proactive rather than reactive.

Facilitate the new

This is where you really start to drill down and communicate to your team/s exactly what is needed from each of them moving forward allowing the change to be implemented successfully. You need to communicate clear expectations for all involved regarding attitude, behaviour and work timeframes.

Establish short and long term goals as well as who is accountable for which element of the change project, so it keeps moving forward. Determine how communication and updates of the rollout will occur. Will it be regular meetings, email updates, project tools such as Trello – there are so many options available that can help keep your team focused and up to date with what is happening at any given time as you travel through the change you are making, so you should avail yourself of these and set up an applicable framework to support you.

Make it manageable

Depending on the change, it does not all have to be done at once. You have all different types of personalities in your business and not everyone will handle change as readily as others. Being mindful of this will assist you in managing resistance around the ‘new’. So, if there is a large change project to manage, break it down into manageable chunks, just like any other SMART goal. Remember, even small changes require wholesale buy in and may need to be broken down into palatable bite sized pieces to help secure success.

Also remember, change is exciting and deserves your focus, but timelines should be manageable alongside the business as usual activities that your team have to deal with every day. Involve them in setting manageable and achievable timelines.

Celebrate Success

Whether you are launching a Facebook page for your business or initiating a completely new product line that requires substantial financial investment, remember to acknowledge and celebrate successes when goals are reached. The Facebook page reaches its first goal of 100 followers – shoot an email out to all involved and acknowledge the achievement. The new product comes off the line and is received enthusiastically by clients – perhaps put on a morning tea. You should feel good when change is implemented successfully, and you should enjoy the moment with your team!

Many of us are overwhelmed by the level of change that is outside of our control given current world circumstances. But this shouldn’t stop you from initiating improvements or updates to your business now. How you introduce it and then follow through will determine your level of success. If you need a helping hand in driving change and engaging your team in the process, call the HR Staff n’ Stuff team now and we can advise on how we can best support you.