How to Get Your Employees to Embrace Workplace Changes

Company-wide change is unavoidable for any business, but as businesses grow and staff members become used to the same people, methods and technology, they get set in their ways. When the time for an organizational change comes, it’s common to have unhappy and concerned staff members who staunchly resist.

There’s a psychological basis for this kind of backlash: Researchers have found the longer something is thought to have been around, the better it’s perceived. In other words, people tend to have a bias against new ideas and things.

While it’s human nature to resist change, company leaders can do things to make change easier for staff members to accept, or even get excited about. Below are a few tips on how to facilitate change across an entire organization.

Develop a strong sales pitch

Early in the process, communicate what the company is doing, why a change is being made and how the change will be rolled out. This should be done with a convincing “pitch” that includes a strong and compelling narrative. Your pitch should address major questions staff members are likely to ask, such as how the change will affect individual job duties.

Give employees a roadmap that lays out how the change is expected to occur, as well as a timeline. This information will give staff members a better sense of company leaders’ vision and help ease concerns by eliminating unknowns.

Seek top-down buy-in

If you’re rolling out an organizational change, company leaders are already in favor of the change. However, mid-level leaders also need to buy into the plan. Early on, get support from leaders at various levels within your organization will make your pitch more effective and provide supervisors enough time to get ready for questions from staff members.

Prioritize transparency

Continuous communication is essential to addressing underlying concerns and battling negative gossip about how the change is going. Be open and transparent early and throughout the entire process. If objectives aren’t being met, discuss what went wrong, what was learned and what can be done moving forward. While it’s challenging to admit setbacks, addressing them head-on can give staff members more confidence about the process.

Get feedback

It’s crucial for workers to understand their feedback and ideas are being accepted when expressed. Incorporate process for getting feedback and acting on it. It may be helpful to allow for the submission of anonymous feedback, so staff members don’t have to be worried about negative repercussions just for giving honest feedback.

At Career Concepts, we support he change initiatives of our clients by providing them with custom service and staffing solutions. If your company is currently looking to increase staffing levels ahead of a major change, please contact us today.