Managing Change For Success

Not every decision requires a change-management campaign to get buy-in from your staff. Most do.

Employees resist change. They will usually get on board with you, but certain behaviors from you are needed to make them excited to follow.

Include Impacted Players as Much as Possible

Most company-wide decisions are made in a vacuum by the leadership team.

Many small and enterprise-wide decisions impact more people than you may originally realize.

Ask These Questions

• Have you really gathered enough information to know the impact on everyone?
• What do the people doing the work know that you don’t know?
• How will this change affect customers?
• Will a system be shut down that you were unaware was needed by someone else?

You do need to make decisions quickly to remain nimble. At the same time, make sure these decisions are wise by asking for enough information from those affected.

Benefits of Informed Decisions

• Avoids short-sighted decisions
• Instills confidence from those involved in the decision
• Creates change agents, rather than naysayers

Communicate with Clarity

When conceiving an assignment, you see most of the details in your head. The assignment, however, often only provides a quick high-level framework of the expectations, despite unspoken expectations.

Setting Expectations

• Be clear about what you want.
• Be clear on when you want it.
• Be clear on parameters of how you want it.
• Make sure expectations are understood.
• Ensure the person is committed and capable of completing the task to your satisfaction.

When people are provided clear parameters and thoughtfully agree to the challenge, they have a high likelihood of meeting your expectations.

Create an Environment of Thinking

You hired competent staff. If you wanted a bunch of yes-men, you could hire robots. You have a company full of women and men who think.

They see the operations of the company from a vastly different perspective than you. This gives them an insight into company decisions that could inform you and help you tweak the decision into a better one.

Foster Thinking Employees

• Let them ask hard questions
• Let them state hidden risks
• Let them point out what may not have occurred to you

Creating an environment where staff readily speak up engages your staff and helps them feel like they are part of a thriving organization.