To successfully implement change in an organization, Chief Executives need to be effective communicators. The following is a list of things to consider while the organization is going through this process.
- Most businesses do not communicate enough, so spend time talking to your employees.
- The norm in most organizations is that most employees are satisfied with the status quo. There is a philosophy referred to as the 20-60-20 grouping. This means that 20 percent are positive, 60 percent are neutral, and 20 percent are negative. With those categories and numbers in mind, you need to focus on the positive and neutral groups, which will give you 80 percent of your workforce as the buy in targets. The negative group, 20 percent, may never buy in.
- Create a list of measurable goals, communicate them to the group, track the progress, and then communicate the progression toward these goals.
- Schedule regular meetings, preferably once a week and include all the employees who are impacted by, or who are responsible for pulling the process together.
- Don’t feel the need to answer questions that are premature to answer. When the answer presents itself, then you can answer the question.
- To build credibility among your employees, enable real conversations to take place on a regular basis.
- Communicate clearly, openly, and with frequency regarding measurements, consequences and results of both the goals and also the progress of the change taking place.
- Finally, it may become necessary to get the entire company together to exploit peer pressure for the change, and build momentum as the goal is close to realization and implementation.
Remember that change can result in both a psychological and emotional response in most people. Provide your employees with the purpose and benefits to both them and the company of the change, combined with constant communication reinforcement, and your ultimate goal will be realized.
Change is not easy in any company. The phrase, “but we’ve always done it this way,” should be etched above the doorway in most businesses. Most employees would rather give you their first born than listen to you talk about the need for change. Using the above advice should make your road to acceptance easier and somewhat painless.
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