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Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:
Lean
Tip #1946 - Help the Employees Identify What's in It for Them to Make the Change.
A
good portion of the normal resistance to change disappears when employees are
clear about the benefits the change brings to them as individuals.
Benefits
to the group, the department, and the organization should be stressed, too.
But, nothing is more important to an individual employee than to know the
positive impact on their own career or job.
Additionally,
employees must feel that the time, energy, commitment, and focus necessary to
implement the change are compensated equally by the benefits they will attain
from making the change.
Happier
customers, increased sales, a pay raise, saved time and steps, positive
notoriety, recognition from the boss, more effective, productive employees, and
an exciting new role or project are examples of ways in which you can help
employees feel compensated for the time, energy, focus, change, and challenge
that any change requires.
Lean
Tip #1947 - Listen Deeply and Empathetically to Employees.
You
can expect that the employees will experience the same range of emotions,
thoughts, agreement, and disagreement that you experienced when the change was
introduced to you or when you participated in creating the change. Never
minimize an employee's response to even the most simple change.
You
can't know or experience the impact from an individual employee's point of
view. Maybe the change seems insignificant to many employees, but the change
will seriously impact another employee's favorite task. Hearing the employees
out and letting them express their point of view in a non-judgmental
environment will reduce resistance to change.
Lean
Tip #1948 - Empower Employees to Contribute.
Control
of their own jobs is one of the five key factors in what employees want from
work. So, too, this control aspect follows when you seek to minimize resistance
to change. Give the employees control over any aspect of the change that they
can manage.
If
you have communicated transparently, you have provided the direction, the
rationale, the goals, and the parameters that have been set by your
organization. Within that framework, your job is to empower the employees to
make the change work.
Practice
effective delegation and set the critical path points at which you need
feedback for the change effort—and get out of their way.
Lean
Tip #1949 - Create an Organization-wide Feedback and Improvement Loop.
Do
these steps mean that the change that was made is the right or optimal change?
Not necessarily. You must maintain an open line of communication throughout
your organization to make sure that feedback reaches the ears of the employees
leading the charge.
Changing
course or details, continuous improvement, and tweaking is a natural and
expected, part of any organizational change. Most changes are not poured in
concrete but there must be a willingness to examine the improvement (plan, do,
study, take additional action).
If
you implement your change in an organizational environment that is
employee-oriented, with transparent communication and a high level of trust,
you have a huge advantage.
Lean
Tip #1950 - Listen First, Talk Second
The
first strategy to overcome resistance to change is to communicate.
Communication is key — you already knew that. However, try letting your
employees initiate the conversation. People want to be heard, and giving them a
chance to voice their opinions will help alleviate the frustration they feel
over the situation.
What’s
more, your employees thoughts, concerns and suggestions will prove wildly
valuable to steer your change project. At the very least, understanding them
will help you pinpoint the root of employee resistance to change.
Lean
Tip #1951 – Make Change About Employees
Change
is only possible if your human resources are on board, so make sure changes are
approached in terms of the employee. If you are implementing a new software
system — plan your project through the lens of user adoption rather than
focusing on the technology. It’s not about what the technology can do, it is
about what the user can do with the help of this new technology.
Lean
Tip #1952 - Encourage Camaraderie
Teams
work better when they understand one another on a somewhat personal level. To
cultivate a strong company culture and foster deeper connections between
employees, create opportunities for your staff to socialize that doesn’t
involve work. Happy hours, company-sponsored events and group outings and clubs
are excellent ways to bring people together, regardless of age or professional
title.
Lean
Tip #1953 - Identify the Root Cause of Resistance
There
are many telltale signs that staff members are resisting change. They may
complain more than usual, miss key meetings or bluntly refuse to participate in
new initiatives. It’s important to recognize when resistance is becoming an
issue, but it’s even more important to understand why your employees are
pushing back in the first place. The most common causes of resistance include:
·
Lack
of awareness about why changes are being made
·
Fear
of how change will impact job roles
·
Failed
attempts at change in the past
·
Lack
of visible support and commitment from managers
·
Fear
of job loss
By
identifying why employees are resisting change, you can better decide how to
address resistance head-on. If lack of awareness or fear is the problem,
greater communication and discussion groups may help. If change has failed in
the past, and employees aren’t confident this time will be different, you can
discuss specific ways the organization has learned from its mistakes and how it
plans to use this insight to successfully implement new initiatives.
Lean
Tip #1954 - Involve Executive Leadership
You
cannot successfully implement change without support from all levels of
business. Your employees take cues from the executive team, and if leadership
doesn’t adhere to the plan for change management, it’s very likely your
employees won’t either. Encourage company leaders to set an example, and the
rest will follow.
Lean
Tip #1955 - Do Change Right the First Time
Failed
attempts to change aspects of your business process will have a negative effect
on how employees view future initiatives. If you’re going to make a change,
make sure you’re doing everything in your power to ensure it’s successful and
set realistic timelines. Many companies fail to successfully implement change
because they overload employees and expect near-immediate gratification. The
reality of change management boils down to one fact: It takes time.
Break
the initiative down into stages and guide employees through the process to
ensure, at each mile marker, adaptations are unfolding correctly to support the
next stage of change.
Lean Tip #1956 - Innovation: Trust Yourself
Enough to Trust Others
Innovation requires breaking down the old rules
of thought and creating new ones. This
means each member of the team must become more transparent than ever
before. As such, each member of the
team must trust themselves enough to trust each other. When you can accomplish this trust, you
become more patient, a better listener and over time more grateful for the new
experiences and relationships that are being formed.
Then, step back and recognize that – with your
ability to co-exist with people in ways that form a family bond – the promise
of a new workplace culture can be realized.
Lean Tip #1957 - Innovation: Collaborate and
Discover
It’s not until you begin to trust yourself and
others that real collaboration takes root.
Collaboration is not just about working closely together, but also about
taking leaps of faith together to discover new ways of thinking and create
greater outcomes.
You never know which idea will take shape into
the new innovation that creates impact and influence in the marketplace –
whether a new process, product, packaging, piece of knowledge, etc.
Lean Tip #1958 - Innovation: Communicate to
Learn
Without strong communication, teams can’t find
their rhythm and they certainly won’t find the things they are looking for to
build trust and collaborate. The manner
in which you communicate sets the tone and propels thinking in a variety of
directions that leads to new innovations.
A team should view themselves as an innovation
lab – constantly challenging each other
to learn from each other’s ideas and ideals and to plant the seeds for future innovations.
Lean Tip #1959 - Innovation: Be a Courageous
Change Agent
For teams to innovate, leaders must challenge
each team member to think more critically and see through a lens of continuous
improvement. Looking through this lens
requires the mindset of a “courageous enabler” – one who takes charge and
embraces the role of a change agent in support of constructive disruption that
ultimately makes things operate better and improves performance.
Every leader must become a change agent or face
extinction. As such, their teams must
equally be charged to do the same.
Accepting the role of a change agent means taking on an entrepreneurial
attitude, embracing risk as the new normal, and beginning to see opportunity in
everything. As you do, innovation becomes second nature.
Lean Tip #1960 – Innovation: Course Correct to
Perfect
To find the perfect combination of people on a
team, leaders must often course correct along the way. Yes, perfection is utopia but course
correction steers you closer to the promise of the culture you are attempting
to create. Course correction also keeps people on their toes and teaches them
to adapt to new environments, where they can showcase their abilities and
skill-sets to new people and personalities in different situations and
circumstances.
To effectively course correct – and create and
sustain momentum for growth, innovation
and opportunity – I’ve always
believed that every leader must ask themselves the following three
questions: 1) What must I keep doing?,
2) What must I stop doing?, and 3) What must I start doing? Simple questions that we don’t ask ourselves
often enough and must hold ourselves accountable to answer.
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