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Change is inevitable, it can be subtle and barely noticeable – or it can be massive and have great impact. If you have to manage a change within your office here are some things to bear in mind! Employees like things to be consistent and if you are altering anything that affects their pay, working hours, work location, immediate team or workload then you can expect to have some unhappy people to deal with.
You, as the business owner, director or HR manager are aware of the changes that need to happen and will fully understand why. You are likely to have known for a while and with that knowledge you will have assessed the whole situation and decided that the change is positive and for the best. When you break the ‘news’ to your team it is likely to be genuine ‘news’ to them and therefore they will possibly react badly. They will certainly have questions and may be very negative in their initial response. Undoubtedly, you need to be able to bring them on board to support the changes, and that might be a time consuming and stressful process. Have a plan of what is happening and when. Within the plan know what steps, processes etc have to be in place for the changes to occur. If you are presenting this to a team of employees consider a flowchart or visual presentation to keep their focus – and have answers ready as you can guarantee there will be questions. Note who asks the questions and be ready to follow up with them to provide more information. Getting the key influencers on board can be a major advantage with changes that have an affect on many people.
Consider telling the person or people that the change effects the most in a private meeting. Their personal questions can be answered, and you will be able to provide them with the reassurances that they may need.
Provide as much information about the situation that has instigated the change as it is feasible to do. A greater understanding of the ‘bigger picture’ will hopefully foster some support for the change.
Ask your team for other options. This isn’t always going to be possible, but it could provide a platform for conversations that will provide ideas for how not only this change is managed but any future changes you need to make.
Genuinely have an open door for staff to come to you to chat through their concerns about how the changes affect them and their colleagues. It will give you the heads up if anyone is suffering in silence and, once they are over the initial shock, provides you will honest, thoughtful feedback.
No one likes change in any aspect of their lives, you may have members of your team that have experienced a lot of changes in their personal lives and rely on their work life to be the never changing, reliable consistent part. If the changes are massive then you may have to cope with resignations but try to understand why an employee feels this is their only option.
Finally, try to shut down the rumours as soon as they start. Major changes that are being brought in when the employees don’t know the full story fuels gossip, and this will be hugely detrimental to achieving and maintaining support for the future of the company.
