Minimising Upheaval Caused by Organisational Change

Organisational change is rarely smooth-sailing, as it often means the shaking up of years-old workplace cultures and practices. If a business decides to implement change without consulting their employees, however, the upset can be significantly worse. Broadly speaking, people receive unexpected, large-scale change about as well as they do whiplash. By informing your employees, and giving them a role in the upcoming change, what could cause unrest throughout the workplace instead becomes a positive experience for everyone. But there’s more that can be done to facilitate a smooth change, ideas that should be kept at the forefront of any leader’s mind.

Centre change around your employees

Implementing change with a focus on people is an ironclad rule for success, regardless of the exact scenario. For any smooth change, involving the people that will be affected is a must. In a business context, it is your employees that feel the effect of change, and it is by their efforts that changes are implemented, maintained, and successful. Imposing changes to the workplace upon your employees, without first getting them to engage with and believe in the upcoming changes, is a surefire path to failure. For success, both now and later, involve your employees in the process.

Communication is the key to achieving this goal. Leaders should speak to their employees, communicating both what the upcoming change will be, and why it must be implemented. This will involve your employees, keeping them in the loop, and cultivating a belief in the idea, provided it has a good reason behind it. If not, or if it’s poorly explained, your employees are likely to have issues, which we will discuss later. Once people back the ideas behind adjusting the workplace, they can help usher it in without issue.

Clear communication

Following on from the previous point, communication is an absolute must for a successful rollout of new ideas. With effective, convincing communication, you will fail to express your ideas and get people behind them. This will make the driving force for change, your employees, uninterested or in opposition. To counter this, the solution is simple – you must make your employees see the need for change and feel the urgency to realise it.

But, it is easier said than done. Of course, you can’t simply have a one-off conversation with a handful of employees and expect them to be behind you all the way. Instead, communication is a continuous road, one that goes both ways. To properly express your ideas, you will need to regularly communicate with your employees, involving them in the discussion surrounding the upcoming adjustments to their workplace. Good methods of doing so are in speaking with focus groups, using surveys, and of course, simply speaking to people. By doing so, your employees will feel as though they are a part of the discussion, and their opinions play a valuable role. After all, you are proposing changes to their workplace situation, why wouldn’t their opinions hold value?

Careful planning

It should come as no surprise that planning is key to the smooth, successful implementation of organisational change. Many potential obstacles can impede progress, from the redirection of organisational momentum to the simple reluctance of doing things differently. To combat this, your leaders will need a plan of action.

Using a suitable model for change is one method of planning. By using one of the available models, such as Lewin’s change management model, the Bridge’s transition model, or the McKinsey 7-S model. Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages, but they all follow a similar idea, that being providing strategies that foster a smooth implementation of change. The specifics of some might align with your business more than others, though using any model should provide a good foundation upon which you can build your organisational change.

Change should inspire excitement, not apprehension

One of the main obstacles to implementing organisational change can be the opinions of the people affected. As we’ve mentioned before, if your opinions aren’t on-board with the upcoming changes, it can cause major issues. On the other hand, receptive employees will help the process.

Cultivating support and excitement for your proposed changes relies on communication, another core aspect we have discussed. With clear, regular communication geared around providing answers, you are likely to dispel any concerns your employees have, making them more likely to put their efforts behind the project. It isn’t enough to merely convince your employees to accept the change; for good results, you need them to believe in it. People motivated to realise change are what create and maintain it, whereas simple compliance could tip either way.

Address your employees’ concerns

It is understandable for sweeping change to be met with some resistance. People that have worked a particular way or with particular people stand to see what they’re comfortable with altered, possibly to their detriment. By applying the previous points, you should be well on your way to a successful transformation, but there will be some that disagree. It is important that you do not ignore them.

Those that disagree with organisational change will slow the entire process, possibly even putting it in reverse. To avoid this, you should be on the lookout for people that voice their issues, procrastinate, or even spread damaging rumours. Much of this information can be gathered using the aforementioned points, but your leaders will need to get involved too. They must understand the sentiment on the workplace floor, and listen to those with problems. Once signs of dissatisfaction are seen, it is crucial you act swiftly, or else this dissatisfaction will fester, causing problems in the future. As evolution is a necessity for a business to survive, these problems can be catastrophic, so the importance of addressing concerns cannot be overstated.

Keep your leaders at the forefront

Proactive leadership will allow you to effectively conduct the previous points, allowing for successful organisational change. Leaders will execute plans, understand the effects of change and communicate this to employees, inspire people to action, and maintain momentum. Without effective, involved leadership, successful organisational change is likely an impossibility.

For leaders to be involved, they first must understand the importance of their role in organisational change. Second, they must be educated and proficient, able to handle the challenges, both foreseen and unforeseen, enacting change poses. With the right people at the helm, implementing changes will be a trivial task.