Change

Your workplace needs to make some changes for the good of your staff / customers / stakeholders. How will you maintain a positive workplace culture during the change process?

I have had discussions with a couple of workplaces recently that are about to roll-out unavoidable changes for their workplaces.  The changes will be positive but are expected to invite some initial distrust and negativity.

Change requires careful and considered thought, consultation, planning and communication.  Especially when our workplaces are already filled with fragile and burnt-out employees picking themselves back up (hopefully) from COVID-19 fatigue and feelings of stress and anxiety. 

Even those workplaces that have (or previously had) strong cultures of resilience may struggle to get everyone on board in periods of change.

Confusion and miscommunication are great conduits for negative emotions and without shared ownership and understanding of your change strategy your workplace may be suddenly overrun by a culture of resistance, confusion, and blame.  Change can be scary and even the most positive and well-intentioned change process can cause distrust and fear of cost cutting and hidden agendas if not implemented well.

Knowing how to limit the spread of any negative emotions will benefit the well-being of your workplace.  

You can’t underplay the importance of support for all staff during periods of change.  If it is expected that there may be resistance and push-back you need to prepare those of your team with the knowledge resources to equip them to respond and support those that are affected and unsure about the changes.

I love the Verbal Judo reference “Know yourself first, then know your opponent and you win 100% of the time”. (Verbal Judo, the gentle art of persuasion, written by George Thompson).  Relating this to communicating about change, ‘Know yourself’ refers to thoroughly knowing and understanding not only the changes but the reasons for them and ‘know your opponent’ refers to knowing and expecting the possible concerns, objections and misinterpretations from those affected.

“While successful culture can look and feel like magic, the truth is that it’s not. Culture is a set of living relationships working toward a shared goal. It’s not something you are. It’s something you do.”
― Daniel Coyle, The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

Honest, transparent (and perhaps vulnerable) communication is the positive way forward.  If you can — involve your staff in all aspects of the change conversation and strategy development.  If you can’t involve all staff, is it possible to have representatives from individual teams that can communicate key thoughts?  Be open and responsive to both negative and positive input and feedback.  Explain the reasons for the change and what you hope to achieve, step your staff through the expected implementation stages and give them opportunities to provide feedback throughout the process.

If you take your staff on the journey with you through your change process, they may be your biggest allies.

Being knowledgeable and prepared to have transparent conversations about the changes is the best line of defence, providing staff with the knowledge and resources they need to come on board will be the best form of support.

Send us a message, Respect at Work can help you to communicate and implement change.