4 Tips to Help Your Employees Successfully Navigate Change

1/10/2022

By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels

With all the upheaval happening in our world, it’s challenging to successfully navigate change in our personal and work lives.

With that in mind, launching change initiatives in the workplace can cause even greater levels of anxiety and uncertainty. That’s why it’s so important to properly plan for change to ensure your employees are on board with your new initiatives.

You certainly don’t want to subject your change initiatives to chance.

To help with that, here are four tips you can use to help your employees successfully navigate new organizational initiatives:

1. Always Lead with a “Why”

So many leaders jump the gun with their change initiatives without explaining why they are switching things up in the business. Cast a vision to where you’re going so you can bring your employees along for the ride.

Take a clue from a young child. “Why” is a word that is forever on their tongues whenever you ask them to do something! It’s human nature to want to understand what’s behind a request. Many initiatives fail because leaders forget to explain the reasons behind the changes.

2. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

As you’re leading the organization through change, effective communication of the effort required for a project to successfully transition from where you are to where you want to be is imperative. It’s also about asking for your employees' feedback along the way.

Doing so removes the outward perception of changing for change’s sake and continues to cast your vision so the initiative will experience a greater likelihood of success.

3. Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

Expressing empathy to employees who are most impacted by the changes is ultra-important. Listen with your heart, not just your ears.

Showing you care for them in the midst of upheavals can make all the difference in the world. This can help promote deeper trust in your organization’s leadership and also gain higher levels of buy-in to your change initiatives.

4. Encourage Them to Grow in the Process

Along the same lines, have an open-door policy where employees can talk to you about what they’re experiencing. Allow them room to reflect on the changes they’re going through and coach them through the process. Doing so can open doors to their leadership journey, ultimately benefiting them and the company.

Companies that use strategies like this can help ensure the success of their change initiatives. Properly planning for change, communicating the vision for the planned changes, and supporting employees throughout the process goes a long way towards building a foundation for success.

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These tips are a sampling of the content Michael Cantu and I have included in our #2 Best Selling IT book on Amazon, No-Nonsense Digital Transformation. This book talks extensively about building exceptional teams and creating great cultures, so it isn’t just for digital transformation fans.

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