Change is Changing!
After 25 years in the business of change management, I have realized that until recently, not much has changed about change. While there are always new spins on methodologies and templates, at the core, we approach leading people through change essentially the same way. Those diehard approaches are rooted in psychology and how practitioners of change help with the individual, team, and organizational impacts of any transformation. Yet sadly, how we engage with those that are impacted in change tends to still follow old ways of thinking. Just like medical practitioners, change leaders need to base their work on the fundamentals, however, there are reasons that doctors constantly update their practices with new technologies and procedures—adjustments are made to take advantage of the advances as well as the needs of their patients.
We have all seen the statistics; Millennials now make up over 1/3 of the US labor forcei, and Gen Z is fast on their heels as they begin to enter the professional workforce. The ways we engage with, inform, and manage people must change, and quickly, to meet the needs of this growing segment of the workforce. Add to it that COVID-19 has redefined the norms of the workplace as countless companies are deciding to abandon their brick-and-mortar offices to not only provide better work/life balance opportunities for their employees but also vastly reduce their investment in real estate.
So, how does change need to change? Here are three useful approaches to consider:
1. Empower line level supervisors and managers to have direct impact with their teams: Leadership was once seen as an ivory tower from which only those at the top of the pyramid could speak. Now, employees prefer to hear from those closest to them, in language and situations that apply directly to them, not from platitudes and carefully crafted corporate language.
2. Provide frequent and engaging two-way communication: Think about it… we live in a YouTube/Facebook/Instagram/TikTok world where content is not only freely shared but the feedback and impressions of that content is immediate. This needs to translate to the workplace. Static, one-way content with no ability to react, provide feedback or ask questions will fall flat, if it is seen at all. Most organizations have the power to create genuine and authentic content and engage employees in real-time dialog at their fingertips in Microsoft Office (Sway, Stream, Team, and soon Viva) yet confine the ownership of information to internal communication teams. These resources can easily intensify the impact communications have in an organization tenfold.
3. Drop the formality: As I mention above, the “old school” approach of pontificating in platitudes and delivering messages that are labored over with laser focused precision come across as disingenuous and can do more harm than good in the minds of employees. They want to have real talk and transparency from their leaders, and when information feels based in reality and humility it will go a long way in building trust and confidence.
About the Author
Mark Deans is the Vice President of Professional Services at Change 4 Growth. As VP, Mark oversees the delivery of C4G’s client engagements, including Organizational Change Management, Learning/eLearning, Leadership Development, Culture and Employee Engagement, and Project Delivery. Mark is also the Product Owner of C4G’s digital OCM platform, ATLAS™ by C4G.