“About twenty percent of the people are against any change.” – Robert F. Kennedy
I encounter many leaders who are extremely efficient at pursuing others for the transformations.
They have the magic and will produce the magic that individuals will buy into it.
I requested a couple of my leader's colleagues to share with me what works with them.
How they pursue others for new change initiatives.
Change is a normal part of our lives, but it’s uncomfortable for the vast majority of people because it makes them feel like they’ve lost control. Do you remember a time when you felt like things were being done to you that you had no control over? That’s how they may feel now. In every way you can, let them know that you can relate to that. – Mary Jo Asmus
There are a few points we need to concentrate on to gain acceptance from the employees, with these approach leaders can certainly pursue the team members for new changes.
- Changes scare people. So Leaders need to assure the individuals that nothing will affect them significantly due to the changes.
- Individuals tend to find security, so as a leader we have to assure security to the individuals.
- Employees do not realize why a unique change is happening, as a leader when we ignore to explain the why part, individuals will not be with us.
- Individuals do not like uncertainty, so as a leader we have to co-create the outlook with the employees where together we will reduce the uncertainty.
- People do not understand the new changes, so as a leader we have to develop the story which is obvious to understand, we have to paint the picture to the people’s minds. So storytelling plays a key role in communicating about the change.
- People do not like an upside-down change, so the leaders require to safeguard that changes are incremental, then compliance will be significant. Nobody likes abrupt changes.
- Leaders need to allocate additional effort to connect with each and every member of the group about the recent changes. Each human being is unique. They understand differently. Once all the team members are persuaded, they can take care of the whole team by distributing their understanding with each other.
- As change is taxing on emotion, people do not be in the appropriate mental setup, as a leader we have to acknowledge this mental turbulence and facilitate the team members to overcome. This is the time when the trial of trust will be immense.
- In the change management process, few individuals will lose control and power, the leaders need to acknowledge these factors and focus on each individual’s pride and other respect factors. Fear will be remarkably high at this moment. As fear hijacks our emotions and rational mind, leaders need to accompany the team members at this moment.
- Leaders need to devote time to build trust in the absence of the trust people will not part of our journey.
- New ways of functioning may contribute to problems and challenges which individuals are not comfortable with, as a leader, we desire to understand these factors and support the team members to deal with the challenges.
- Individuals are stressed up owing to too many recent changes, Individuals will resist when they are under stress. The leader needs to observe these stress and focus on relieving this stress.
- When individuals are not competent with the new upcoming change to deal with, they will resist, as a leader, we need to understand the skill and competency of the existing team members and bridge those where there is a gap
- Acknowledgment, whenever employees are investigating something new, leaders need to acknowledge the improvement and rewards for the modest achievement, it will provide a positive boost to the team members to do more such small initiatives
- With new structural changes, the individual has to move out of their comfort zone, which is a significant challenge as it breaks the normal routine, leaders need to mentor them to surmount these changes. New colleagues, new managers, the new role of the game, etc Leaders can figure out the initial chaos and help the employees.
- Previous bitter change experience triggers the resistance to employees and they spread the negativity into the system, leaders have to be vigilant about such events. Need to serve by communicating regularly and communicating better.
- Leaders have to exhibit empathy with the employees during the transformation journey
- Employees like when leaders involve them, involve the for consultation, involve them for co-creation, employees accept more about the new change when they are involved.
- Bad change management execution will spoil the whole change management initiatives
Acceptance will be high when Leaders addresses all the above mention situation. They are able to pursue their employees easily in such a situation.
Change cannot be put on people. The best way to instill change is to do it with them. Create it with them. – Lisa Bodell
