How To Manage Change In Your Organisation

Managing Change

For most of us, the thought of change in our workplace at best makes us a little uneasy, and at worst completely derails us, distracting us from our day to day activities.

Going to work feels insecure. We don’t know where we stand. It is easy to be demoralised and for engagement to plummet.

Why is this?

Perhaps we need to recognise from the start that there are two key paradigms to the world of change:

  • The technical paradigm where the focus is about process, policy, skill and know-how: the what, how and why of the change. This paradigm is where most change agents focus and are typically supremely comfortable.
  • The emotional paradigm that focuses on people: what the impact of change is likely to be on people, how they may be feeling, what level of support is required and so on.

When we ignore the emotional element in the change process then we often find that rumour and whispers start. Performance tails off and stories of what is really happening in respect of the change become further and further away from the truth.

When the emotional element is not addressed, even with a small change, the negative impact can grow out of proportion leading to acts which appear to be almost sabotage. As resistance builds, errors in business-as-usual increase, good people go and an unnecessarily difficult working environment ensues.

Paradoxically, it is the small changes that seem to have the biggest effect on us as people. Big changes get real attention from everyone, from the plans and budgets that make them up, and the emotional paradigm tends to be addressed more often.

What Can We Do To Manage Change?

We have to understand that everyone views change differently, and if there are gaps in our understanding of the what and the why, we will fill them in by ourself – and often be completely wrong about them.

By communicating clearly we can fill these gaps up properly and avoid the black hole syndrome.

Key Strategies For Managing Change

  • Make sure you ‘engage’ ALL of your stakeholders (anyone who is likely to be impacted by the change) from the start.
  • Plan time to focus on the emotional as well as the technical paradigm.
  • Don’t feed people’s insecurity – be as open and honest as you can. Without transparency people make up the information – based on how they are feeling about the situation and then they share their reality!
  • Maintain communication throughout and beyond the life cycle of the change
  • Ensure the technical and emotional support is available as needed. So that everyone has an opportunity to assimilate and transition into the world after ‘change’.

Without taking care of the emotional element, and recognising that in most cases the ROI associated with change only delivers when the people engage, success is neigh on impossible.

Miradorus have developed a series of courses that can help individuals and organisations begin to master the art of successful change. These course get results! If you would like to know more, email, us at info@miradorus.com.