Life is filled with never-ending change both at work and at home, yet it’s still very hard for most of us. That’s because it takes energy, effort, and involves uncertainty and losses. Even positive changes of our choosing involve uncertainty and loss, such as moving to a new house. We gain a new home, but we also lose what’s familiar to us.

Change that is imposed on us, such as a re-organization/restructure at work, can be especially stressful because it not only involves uncertainty, but potentially losses outside of our control such as position/title, status (being an expert), physical workspace, and/or social connections. As human beings, we crave certainty and predictability. We also like to feel like we are in control. There are few things more stressful than feeling like we have little or no control. Uncertainty and loss of control thrust us into “fight or flight” survival mode where we try to protect ourselves from the unknown. When this happens, logical thinking, creativity, innovation, and collaboration fall to the wayside. We stop performing at our best, and our health and personal lives outside of work can also suffer.

Unfortunately, many organizations fail to recognize the amount of stress they unnecessarily inflict on their employees when undergoing reorganizations. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. There are many things that can be done to make change easier and make people more receptive to it. Below are some tips from the Ken Blanchard Companies. 

• Explain why the change is needed. Explain what is changing and why. Share the consequences for not changing and how the change will impact people in a positive way. Find out why people may be resisting and address their concerns. Give people information over and over again. It’s nearly impossible to over-communicate during times of change.
• Explore possibilities. Encourage people to challenge the status quo. Ask people what works and what doesn’t work. Encourage innovative thinking, and test good ideas and best practices.
• Collaborate on implementation. Trial run components of the change before a full-blown rollout. Involve early adopters as advocates and promote their success. Put the right resources and infrastructure in place and develop a measurement system. Plan for quick wins to create momentum.  
• Make the change sustainable. Share data and success stories. Reward people for implementing the change and crack down on resisters. Have advocates train and coach others. Model the desired behaviors expected of others. Kill bureaucracy.

Involving people in the change is absolutely critical. The more involved they are, the more committed they will be because they have a role to play in the change. As my Booz Allen team in Denver used to say, “No involvement. No commitment.” Also, the sooner they are involved, the quicker they can mentally come to terms with the change and the losses involved. Below are more involvement and buy-in tactics from the Ken Blanchard Companies.

• Broaden the change leadership team.
• Create peer advocacy for the change.
• Conduct interviews to uncover concerns.
• Enlist advocates to investigate concerns.
• Ask people to pilot the change.
• Ask people to advise on the change.
• Ask people to communicate the change.

Remember that people do not like change thrust upon them where they feel like they have no say and no control. Instead, treat them like human beings by addressing their concerns, acknowledging their losses, over-communicating information, and involving them early and throughout the process to reduce stress and productivity loss and increase buy-in and commitment. 

Click here for information about my Leading Change and Managing Transitions training course or contact me at [email protected].

“People prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty.” – Virginia Satir

“People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.” – Peter Senge

“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.” – James Belasco and Ralph Stayer