A Manager’s Role in Change
Managers play an essential role in leading and managing people through change. In fact, research shows that a managers' ability to lead their team through change is one of the deciding factors in how quickly and fully a change is adopted.
What Do We Mean by ‘Change’?
Before we dive deeper into some of the key components required for managers to be able to lead people through change effectively, what exactly do we mean by ‘change’?
Well, we like to think of change from two angles, differentiated by origin.
Organisationally-Led Change: A change that is owned and initiated by the organisation or by others. These are usually large-scale changes impacting multiple teams and departments. For example, this could include an organisational restructure, new organisation-wide systems, changing office location, etc.
Leader-Led Change: A change that is owned and initiated by a leader. These are generally ‘smaller scale’ changes that impact a leader’s team, direct reports or stakeholders. For example, changes in team processes or ways of working, team resourcing changes, implementation of a new team strategy, etc.
There are similarities and differences in leading people through organisationally-led and leader-led change. Ultimately your role as a leader is to ensure that the change is understood and implemented successfully, with minimal impact on your team’s wellbeing and productivity.
Leading People Through Change
Three key components in leading people through change are noted below.
1) Communication
This is about how well you, as a leader, communicate with your team before and during the change.
Individuals and teams can often feel uneasy or resistant to change. Inspiring and enabling your team to affect change requires communicating in a way that moves people from reaction to action.
The way you frame the change at the outset is crucial. People need to feel a sense of optimism about where they’re going and how it will benefit them before they commit to the change. So share a compelling picture of what the future will be like after the change. Explain why the change is important and why it needs to happen now. Help people understand the difference between where they are now and where they are going. Appeal to the different motives of different people by tailoring your messaging and addressing what matters most to them.
Throughout the change journey your team will also look to you for information, direction and guidance. It is important to provide clear, transparent and timely information about the change. Reiterate your expectations around new behaviours and ways of working. Regularly discuss plans, timelines and responsibilities. Anchor back to the change vision. Create a platform for open and honest communication, where team members can ask questions, provide feedback and express their views.
2) Engagement
This is about how successfully you get team members on board and keep them energised while demonstrating change resiliency yourself.
When you’re leading people through change, you’re helping them validate, modify or change behaviours in a way that supports the change. It is important to keep your team engaged throughout the change journey to ensure the change progresses and that the desired behaviours are embedded.
An effective way to do this is to empower your team members to take an active role in the change process. Ask for their ideas and input on solutions, plans and timelines. Seek volunteers to take responsibility for tasks associated with the change. These things all help to increase an individual’s commitment to the change and their motivation to see it through.
Celebrating successes associated with the change (the small steps as well as the big wins) is another effective action for leaders to do to keep people involved in and connected to the change. Give rewards/praise as you see people doing things that support the change. Doing this will help to keep the team motivated and focused on the change goals, and will help to maintain momentum as the change process continues.
3) Alignment
This is about how effectively you recognise and deal with counterproductive behaviours and resistance to change.
Change can stir up emotional responses that cause people to pull back rather than to lean in. This is particularly true when the change affects their day-to-day work processes, responsibilities, or job security. People also don’t trust what they don’t understand or when they feel key information has been withheld in favour of keeping things positive. If these feelings are not addressed and managed, they can quickly escalate, leading to decreased productivity and counterproductive behaviours.
You may hear excuses for keeping things as they are, and you could hear rationalisations for why the change won’t work. Some individuals may outwardly project their negative views onto others, while others may stay silent and just stick to their old ways. Understanding people’s negative emotions and actions and moving towards positive actions and outcomes is an important part of leading people through change.
Encourage your team to discuss how the change is affecting them. This openness and transparency gives people a safe way to talk about emotions, builds trust and team connectedness, and can be an effective launchpad for problem-solving and generating ideas to advance or improve the change.
Support and coaching are crucial during a change process, especially for those who seem resistant to the change. General support may include providing the team with the resources, tools and guidance they need to successfully adapt to the change. More targeted support and management may involve providing individualised coaching to help team members overcome any challenges they may be facing.
Conclusion
In the workplace, a manager has a crucial role in guiding and supporting individuals and teams through organisationally-led and leader-led change. Communication, engagement and alignment are all key components of this role. Some of these elements can easily get overlooked (because we’re busy) or underestimated (because we think everyone is on board). It’s essential that managers apply all 3 of these components to ensure that individuals and teams feel heard, engaged and supported throughout the journey, and so that change can be implemented successfully.
As John C. Maxwell said, ‘Change is inevitable. Growth Is Optional.’ Let’s grow as managers in this area of change leadership so we can support and strengthen sustainable change within our teams and organisations.
