An ideal and proven way of getting employees to embrace change
In this era of increased competition and globalisation, organisations are undergoing change significantly and frequently. The success of these changes is dependent largely on how engaged employees are during this process.
The following is an ideal and proven way of getting employees to embrace change.
Consult
Obtain feedback from your employees via online surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one discussions on how they feel they?ll be impacted by the change and on how they think it can be implemented effectively. Communicate the benefits that will come with this change and continue to communicate frequently throughout the entire process.
Xansa (India) is one organisation that communicates changes to employees before they?re implemented by holding events such as forums and leadership updates.
Involve
Get as many employees involved in the implementation of the change. This may be involvement during the testing phase, playing a part in conducting the training, and possibly becoming a ?subject matter expert?. Anything at all that makes your employees feel as if they?ve contributed to the change will make them feel more like they own the change and less like it?s been thrust upon them.
You might even like to take it one step further by making employees accountable for being initiators and drivers of change. For example, at 3M (the makers of post-it notes), 10 percent of revenues each year must come from new products. This performance indicator alone is enough to foster a culture where change is not only accepted but rewarded.
Advocate
Handpick a few of the most influential employees in your team, such as the loudest, most popular, most respected, etc. Find a way to get these employees in favour of the change and they?ll start getting their colleagues on side as well.
Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank does a great job at turning employees into advocates. Their change management focus is to highlight the benefits of proposed changes so that their people become convinced that the change will make their work easier.
Whilst the process of implementing change can be very complicated, the method used to obtain employees? buy-in doesn?t need to be so complex at all.
