How can you help your team deal with change?

Now that we are at the beginning of 2018 it is usually this time of the year that we look to make changes within our personal lives such as start exercising more, drink less, have more fun etc. It is also a key time where organisations may look to make some changes which may affect you and your team.

Is change a good thing?

For most people change at work can be scary and worrying. Change can create feelings of anxiety and may result in the team becoming demotivated and therefore less productive.

For some people change can be exciting as it could mean development opportunity, promotion or more interesting work. The challenge that we face as managers is to help our teams to accept and welcome change so that they develop their resilience and their adaptability.

How can you help your team welcome change?

I have come up with 10 top tips that will help you to help your team to welcome and accept change:

1. Involve your team – organise workshops and consultations to allow conversations and greater understanding.
2. Don’t keep secrets – be open and honest – if you don’t know something tell them but tell them you will update them when you can.
3. Communicate constantly – you can never do too much of this!
4. Check understanding – make sure everyone understands what the change is and the effects of that change.
5. Be flexible in how you adapt to and adopt the change.
6. Involve people in the change by allocating tasks and responsibilities within the team.
7. Ensure your team are prepared for the change by providing training or explaining what they need to do
8. Recognise negative feelings to the change, and deal with them with understanding and empathy.
9. Adopt a positive outlook. Explain the benefits and ensure that people feel those benefits quickly.
10. Explain the consequences if the change doesn’t happen.

So if you follow the above tips you will ensure your teams not only engage more with you and the organisation throughout the change but are more likely to develop their adaptability and resilience.

If you have enjoyed reading this blog, you can develop yourself further by studying one of our ILM online courses in leadership and management, click the link below for details of the course where we cover understanding change in the workplace:

https://professional-futures-ltd.thinkific.com/collections/level-2

Don’t forget you can try our courses free before you buy so you have nothing to lose!

Or you can join us in the classroom, contact us on info@professional-futures.com for details on our next courses scheduled for January and February 2018 in Manchester.

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