Strategies for Managing Change
Strategies for managing change requires good leadership skills and down to earth good planning. Think back to a time when you were
introduced to change.
Maybe when you were young your Dad came home and told you that your family would be moving to a new town. How did you feel. Remember how your Dad felt. Remember how your Mom felt. Maybe even your other Brothers and Sisters. I'm sure your Dad was excited - since he had made the decision to move. I'm sure your Mom was too - since she was most likely part of the decision also. Well - how did you feel? Depending on your age you probably felt like telling your Dad - No Way I'm Moving! After all - your friends are here. Or - You were finally a starter on the baseball team - no more sitting on the bench. Or - You and your girl friend had already made plans for the future. Get the point!! You had nothing to do with this decision. Your plans did not include anything like moving. Who asked you for your opinion. How could he do this to me! Strategies for Managing Change
When someone else's plan is imposed on us - it is a tough pill to swallow - especially without a spoon full of sugar. I heard once that it is always easier to lead a bull into a barn by giving them an incentive such as fresh hay or oats - rather than trying to impose your will by pushing or shoving them. I don't know if anyone has ever worked on a farm or ranch - but you are not going to push or shove a real bull very far - without a great deal of resistance and most likely a lot of pain inflicked on you by the bull. Well - growing up my Dad was in the Air Force and we moved often. I can tell you with certainty that I never wanted to move. It always meant starting over. I hated starting over. But in almost all cases it worked out well - I just couldn't see the end result from where I stood.
Strategies for Managing Change
Since I had first hand knowledge of how change can impact an individual personally - I have learned in great detail - how to lead change - because I understand what emotions are involved.
Here's a story about a time I had to Lead Change. I was located at a very large international hotel when I got a call from an old boss. He had been the Regional Vice President of an international company that I had left this position for. After exchanging small talk he asked me if I would be interested in a new position. I told him that although I was happy - what was the new position. He told me that they were acquiring seven new properties and they were looking for a Human Resources Director. This would require someone to convert all the employees from their old company to ours. Someone that was very skilled at leading change. Strategies for Managing Change
Funny thing is this same Regional Vice President had told me several years earlier when I very first began working in his Region that I would never be qualified to work in Human Resources Management. Well - well - well. Kind of funny how things work out. Nothing had changed except that he had an opportunity to see the results of the things I had accomplish since then. Just a quick note - words are so important - such as the ones the SVP told me about not ever having a chance at an HR position. Once they leave your mouth - it is impossible to get them back - and cleaning up the mess is always harder than taking the time to think before you speak. After speaking with my wife first - and then my children second - we decided that this would be a great opportunity - especially since we would not have to relocate. Well I negotiated a very nice salary - even though I respected him - I had to drive a point home. He knew I could Lead Change and I took advantage of it. I was the perfect candidate for them.
My Wife Was 8 Month Pregnant...
Now I had a lot on my plate at that time. Talk about leading change -- I had just taken on a new job -- a job where it was the first time for this company to change over this many employees that were spread out over an entire city. Throw into that mix - my wife was 8 months pregnant with our fourth child. This job was going to require me to work long - very long days. As it would turn out - my day would begin at around 3:30 am and end on some days around 9:00 pm - my bed time. As part of my job offer I made sure I negotiated time off when my child was born. I carried a pager - this was before the cell phone craze. On my first day at the new position - we had a meeting with all the key players to assess what we were faced with in whole. Strategies for Managing Change
Converting over 700 employees from one company to another would require some incredible planning. Although their current pay would remain the same - any employees hired after the conversion would begin at a lower wage. Of course this sends a very negative signal to the other existing employees - one that we would have to include in our plan. There benefits would change - in some cases for the better - and in some cases for the worse. Work rules would also be different - again - in some cases better - and in some cases more restricting. The list goes on. When leading change - try to make a list of all the things your employees - whether real or not - consider negative. Make an identical list of the positive things. This list has to be a very honest assessment. Try to look at it from their perspective. Just because you feel it is a positive - it may well be a negative. Strategies for Managing Change
Also when leading change - keep in mind that not everyone - will ever be happy no matter what. In some cases you could hand out $100 dollar bills and they would ask - why couldn’t you have given them five $20’s. After all - how are they suppose to get change for a $100. You can also guarantee that no matter what - the employees as a general rule - were going to be apprehensive. Point is - leading change is not a perfect science. So we made our list… Some things that rose to the top - that several of our benefits were better than what they currently had - including retirement - employee discounts - and they had more options for health care. Some other items that rose to the top - that we were gong to be introducing innovative improvements to their work environment - state of the art systems and equipment. We had a list of the negatives as well - but pay rates topped the list. After all - the reason that prompted the change was driven by payroll costs. We had our work cut out for us. The employees were spread out over several locations throughout the city and worked around the clock. Strategies for Managing Change
Our plan was to conduct several employee meetings at all times of the day. These would be at the employees convenience - not managements. What this meant was that we would conduct a meeting for all three shifts - which included the 11:00 pm to 7:00 am shift. We also decided that one meeting at each facility - on each shift - was not enough. We would need several meetings to get the information out in bite size pieces. Leading change in this case also meant that they needed to get to know us. So at our first meetings - we gave a history of the company along with where we were headed in the future. We talked about ourselves and who we were as individuals. We had refreshments and a small informal get together after the informational portion. Although this was around the clock - it went very well. We then planned the same type of meetings - but - this time the topic was benefits. We covered the negatives and positives - and left plenty of time for questions - and they had questions. Again - we broke these into bite size pieces. We provided as much information in writing as possible. We also set up telephone numbers that they could call to ask specific and personal questions. If you do this - make sure that you have the telephones staffed. We also set up places and times where the employees could come to us on their own to ask questions. We tried to be as accessible as possible. Strategies for Managing Change
The key to leading change is to be honest - professional but real - timely - disclose as much information as possible - and try very hard not to drop the ball. I say this because - if you do - that reinforces their fears. In summary - leading change requires good leadership skills - skills that account for all aspects of the operation and the staff.
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For another perspective on managing change visit
Guide-To-Managing-Change.com
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