Managing Change
Managing Change is probably the most talked about and most researched element of a manager’s job and the people aspect of managing change falls very much to the HR professional, whether they are doing it, or advising on how it should be done.
There is little doubt that the pace of change has increased significantly over the past year whether that change comes about as a result of downsizing, product diversification, acquisition or merger, reshaping or simply trying to do more with less.
Of course, if you are involved with redundancies or TUPE you will have an eye to the employment law and need to be clear about with whom you must consult and when. If dismissals are on your agenda then the Employment Act 2008, which comes into force on 1 April, will be high on your radar.
Supporting those left behind after a downsizing exercise can be forgotten. They often feel guilty that they have been the lucky ones who have retained a job, fearful that they will be the next to go and, in addition, may have to learn new skills as part of taking the organisation forward. Yet in the midst of all this, it is very important to the success of the organisation that they are motivated, engaged – and not off sick with stress. Good people management will be one of the most important things on the organisation’s agenda.
If you are involved in an acquisition or merger there will be a need to quickly understand the skills and competences of the new staff – redundancies frequently follow TUPE and getting the selection right across a raft of staff, some of whom you do not know, makes the task especially challenging. But get it right you must if the new organisation is to be successful. You may have to devote significant time to skills audit and/or training needs analysis and you might decide that investing for the future through a development centre is the best way to understand staff strengths and feed into the redundancy selection process.
Simply writing a new business plan and telling staff that they must merge or change the culture of the organisation is most unlikely to bring about the changes you need. We are all creatures of habit and personal style and an organisation’s culture is made up of many things, for example the stories we tell of the past, what we reward and how we reward it, where the power lies and who are the key influencers, even how we dress for work and who buys the coffee. Without changing the individual elements of an organisation’s culture, the culture itself will not change. Advising and facilitating organisational change falls very much to the HR and OD specialist and requires very careful thought and planning.
The one thing that all change managers are clear about is that communication is the very foundation of a successful change process. Communicate, communicate and then when you think you can communicate no more, communicate again – not forgetting those on maternity leave or long term sick. Nature abhors a vacuum and an information vacuum will generate gossip and mis-information which will undermine all your good work in other areas.
In addition to communication, consultation is a powerful tool and if redundancies or TUPE are part of your change management process, then consultation is a statutory requirement.
Take a look at this list, which do you think is true consultation ?
- This is what I have done
- This is what I have done, what do you think about it ?
- This is what I am going to do, what do you think about it ?
- These are the options, which do you think I should take ?
- This is the problem, I don’t know what to do, what are the options open to me?
- This is the problem, let’s get together to agree what we ought to do?
- This is the problem, can we reach a deal?
- This is the problem, you decide what to do.
Consultation is certainly not represented by the first three statements, neither are they the last two.
Managers do not have a monopoly on good ideas and those who do the job often know best about what will and what will not work and if they are left outside the loop they may be tempted – even unconsciously – to ensure that the new processes do not work !
There can be little doubt that change is a multi-faceted project so how can you take better care of yourself whilst keeping all the balls in the air ?
- Do all you can to take people with you on the journey, dragging them along kicking and screaming is hard work and will come back to haunt you long after the change is implemented.
- Share the burden, either with internal colleagues or through a Circle of Peers session..
- Keep the key influencers on-message and consistent. Negativity and/or ‘plotters’ can derail even the best laid plans.
- If a task is outside your experience or time resource, bring in an expert. For example, a Cullen Scholefield Development Centre can be designed to audit skills and competences ensuring you have the right people in the right place with the right skills.
- Make sure that those around you understand any statutory requirements and can safely have those difficult conversations. It is far more cost effective to buy a day’s training than it is to defend Employment Tribunal claims or investigate grievances.
- Use a variety of media to communicate, there are as many people who prefer to hear a message as there are those who prefer to read a message – and many people struggle with graphs and pie charts. Please also remember that English is not a first language for everyone and there may be some for whom complex organisational language is difficult and formal language can be frightening.
Above all, remember to take better care of yourself in order to be best placed to take care of others!!
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