The Challenge of Change

The Challenge of Change 

For many organisations, people are their biggest resource yet sometimes we fail to invest in them in the way we should.  Take AI, yes AI is coming, and yes it is changing the way our business operate but people remain at the heart of businesses and they are the ones who will have to make the changes for AI to be successfully implemented.  And yet we still see change as a thing that happens and expect people to adapt to the change, rather than focusing on making sure that the change works with the people.  

Organisations facing change is nothing new! Yes, it might be happening quicker, yes the scale might be different and the changes themselves might be bigger or more impactful. So why do people still struggle with change, and why does it impact people negatively? 

It is often not because people don’t like the change, it is because they don’t like how it makes them feel.

The challenge we face

Change is happening to all of us, all of time yet even when it is a change we have placed on ourselves, it can still be really tricky so it is not surprising that when change is forced upon us people struggle.  Change creates a loss of control, lack of understanding, reduced clarity and raises so many questions that often do not have the answers that people are looking for. 

During the process of change, we often cannot do anything about these problems they are part and parcel of the change happening, but we can be aware of it, we can prepare people and we can give people the tools to navigate this and adopt the right mindset for change.  

Prioritising how people transition through change – it’s more than good communication. It’s creating a change mindset. 

It’s education.  Educating our teams leading the change. Educating our managers. Educating our whole workforce.  When a change is coming, it’s not enough to tell them (although that is far more than some organisations do), it must go beyond good communication.  

Explaining why, how, and what is happening creates a good foundation for people to understand the change but this still leaves them ill-equipped to manage the feelings of the change.  

Educating them with the psychology behind how they will process the change, and how it might impact them, is the key to help the change land successfully and make sure that people can transition through the change.

What does education look like?

Focussing as much on how people transition through the change, as we did on the change itself. Helping people understand what is happening, what this means for them, and how they can make it make sense.  

Taking your people leading, managing and effected by change through light insights based workshops to: 

-              Collaborate on the impact of change 

-              Understand how humans process change 

-              Work through how they as individuals, or teams will experience the change 

-              Develop awareness in advance of the change to reduce any barriers

-              Provide clarity and control over aspects of the change 

-              Create a language and framework for positive communication 

What do you need to know? 

It is totally possible to make change a positive experience and easier to navigate by focussing on the human side.  If we focus as much on how humans navigate change and manage the transition from where they once were to where they need to be as we do on managing the change itself we are more likely to have people engaged during the change process. 

Remember: 

It takes time. 

It pays to be curious as to how people are engaging with the change and what the needs are. 

People transition through change at different speeds. 

People will have different needs as you go through the change.

Trained managers to coach your people will speed up your change adoption and improve the engagement throughout the change. 

Top 5 things you can do to successfully navigate change

Centre your change around your people and ensure that your change programme has people at the heart of it. Our top 5 recommendations to successfully navigate change with your people motivated and engaged: 

1.         Communicate effectively.  By this we mean early, clearly and continuously. People seek clarity, provide it regularly. 

2.         Create a shared sense of purpose and meaning. People can commit to the change easier when they understand how it connects to the bigger picture and why it is happening. 

3.         Invest in development.  People can engage and the change feels safer when they feel prepared and equipped with the right skills, and the right mindset toolkit and lead by people who are equipped to lead through the change.  

4.         Involve your people.  People that are invited to feedback and receive responses are often more invested and have a sense of ownership when their voices are heard. 

5.         Model the right behaviours.  People believe what leaders do not what they say.  Modelling the right behaviours to align to the desired outcome. 

When change is human centred with as much focus on how they will transition through the change, as on the change itself, change becomes more effective, and people are much more engaged.  Reducing the challenges we see so often of people hating change, resisting change or unsure how to navigate it.