Manage change by managing your approach

Simple tactics for implementing change successfully

There is a common belief that change is hard and that people resist and refuse to participate in it. Yet there is a lived experience among business owners, managers and leaders that people want to get better at things, to advance, to improve.

How can people hate change but like growth and advancement? How can they want to make more money, do a better job, get promoted and expect to accomplish all of that if they hate change and refuse to do it?

Both things can’t be true.

The real truth about change

The truth is that people don’t hate change nearly as much as we seem to think. What they do hate, though, is unsupported change.

When people are expected to do things that they have no competency in or are going to be held accountable for results without a predictable structure in which to accomplish those results, they resist. They dodge. They just quietly continue doing what they have always done and their managers’ urgings fall on deaf ears.

Change itself is not the problem. How you implement change is the problem.

Change your approach to change your results

If you want people to embrace the changes that you want and need them to make, you have to be structured and disciplined in your approach to facilitating that change. Whether you are asking someone to adapt to a CRM, to learn a new process, or to take on an entirely new job, these few little steps of pre-thought will help you prepare and execute changes better.

First, give your people time to get used to the idea that a change is coming. The bigger the change and the harder for them to accept, the more time and the more support you need to plan to offer.

And before you start launching into a change, it’s important to understand your audience. Put yourself in their shoes before you throw something new at them. Ask yourself two questions: 1) Is this going to be hard for them? 2) Is this something that they are going to be onboard with?

The first question is about their skill level. Be realistic with yourself about how they will perceive the difficulty of this new task and then think about the actual difficulty of the learning curve. If this is going to be hard for them, it is likely that you’re going to need to give it the time it deserves for instructing, demonstrating, observing and providing feedback.

Skill takes time to acquire. Be prepared to invest your time in them. Build it into your plan and into your schedule. Don’t rush the learning phase. Let them make mistakes as they learn rather than out on the jobsite.

The second question is about their desire, motivation and willingness. If they are going to be totally onboard with it, you only have to provide a little encouragement. If they are going to resist this, hate the idea, or feel frustrated by the change, then you may need to position this in a way that makes them understand what’s in it for them.

What will they have gained when this change is complete? Will they be faster, better, make more money, make fewer mistakes? Will they feel more confident, show up more professionally?

Do not underestimate the value of spelling it out or, better yet, of having them tell you what they see as beneficial to them.

If the change is only good for the company but makes their work harder, longer or more complicated, consider giving them something meaningful as a reward to learn and to adapt: time off, a bonus, a certification. Get creative.

Managing change for the better—of all

Preparing for change this way may seem like it will take more of your time—and it will. But imagine if you could implement changes that stuck with less stress and less pressure. Wouldn’t that be worth your time investment?