By Ezra Luca
Not all employees embrace changes even if it is beneficial for their growth. Change management can be easy to implement as this means embracing new processes, methodologies, and technologies. Leaders of an organization will play a huge role in terms of implementing these changes. The leaders are the middlemen between the change and their subordinates.
Some, when they hear the word “change”, even how impressive the organizational effectiveness model is, they will feel afraid and challenged about it. As a leader, it is your role to implement these changes and assure that everyone is buying it, sounds easy, but actually, it is the other way as people in an organization are different. You have to get the buy-in of everyone and change your style in disseminating the information if deemed necessary.
What Leaders Can Do
The leader’s role in this project is critical, and if it is not handled right, there is a huge chance that this project will fail.
Moving on, here are some things leaders should put in mind when change management is about to start within the organization:
- Directly address the resistance
As previously discussed, not everyone will buy in to change, hence expect resistance from some of the members of the organization. As the leader, it is your responsibility to listen to their concerns and address them, if you can within your power.
Resistance can be the cause of the project’s failure, resignations, and requests for a change of department, hence addressing it seriously should be done.
Leadership engagement can somehow make the resistance manageable as the leaders can talk to their subordinates and discuss, and further fix the resistance.
Some of the talking points to discuss are:
- Why the change is taking place
- Their idea about the change
- What do they feel about the change
As the leader, you have to convince your subordinates to open up and be honest with what they think and feel.
- Align your vision with everyone
The consensus of everyone is what you need to get, yes, everyone will get affected hence their approval and understanding is something that you have to get. You have to make them feel that they are part of the plan and that the change is for the benefit of everyone.
You have to give everyone clarity that they are part of the project and that their role and their goals in the company won’t get left behind because of the change.
Sometimes, employees are afraid of changes because they feel like the change may affect them negatively. Create a vision and a goal aligned with the change. Do not make your subordinates feel like the change will drag their position in the organization down.
- Raise the concerns with the people in charge
Once you have heard everyone’s concerns and hesitations, make sure that the people in charge of the change will be informed, especially those issues and concerns you think are valid. You may not be able to address everything within your power, hence raising it to someone who can, is a good idea.
As the leader, you are also the voice of your subordinates to be heard, so stand to that responsibility.
