The Group Grope For Acceptance In Early Stages of Change

 

If you are in a project that is supporting a big change effort - such as establishing a new business process or implementing role-distorting new technology - workforce groups will be responding to the change in ways that may make it difficult to proceed with your project in the initial period. What can you do to ensure progress?

A.  Tell employees to cowboy up
B.  Don't do anything - wait until it gets better
C.  Make examples of the worst offenders
D.  Send overwhelmed employees to therapy

Change management requires using different techniques throughout the change. The workforce goes through a process of acceptance after an announcement of a major change. Among the earliest stages are shock/surprise and denial/refusal. So if you are in the early stages of this type of change, your tactics should support the workforce getting through these stages without making things worse.

Discussion has been proven to help. Provide a way for workers to discuss the changes. It helps them - as a workforce - move from one acceptance process stage to another, which is better than groups lingering in stages that keep them from participating in the change and in the success of your project.

Schedule special meetings for these types of discussions. Make available online experts and change champions to discuss the implications of change and the effects it will have on the organization. But remember: In the early stages these discussions should not deal with facts as much as the shock, surprise and rejection rampant in the workforce. These interactions are more about listening and less about response. Avoid judging or pushing back in the early stages (no matter who you want to strangle).

More tips for interactions in my next post in a few days.

BTW: I've been moving to a new city and it has been more difficult than planned to keep up with my blog. Could this have been helped with better application of project management techniques? Now I wonder.

More on managing change : Managing Change in Organizations.