Employees Must be Motivated to Accept Change : Gulf News article dated February 4, 2014

 

 

Dr. Sathya Menon, Academic Director, Blue Ocean Academy writes on Change Management in Gulf  News column titled " Expert Advice" dated February 4, 2014......

Employees Must be Motivated to Accept Change

 

Change is Inevitable, the Challenge lies in Managing it

Change Management is all about the importance of keeping an organization in a state of “perpetual unrest.”

However maintaining employee confidence and optimum performance during organizational change can often be more challenging than the change itself.

When organizations must manage unexpected challenges, improve performance or innovate to meet market demands, employee cooperation is essential. Therefore adaptable and successful organizations need leaders with expert proficiency in understanding the human change process.

It has been observed that effective leadership skills significantly reduce change resistance and can lead to change acceptance.

Change is the introduction of something new that moves us outside of our comfort zone. However, in the successful implementation of any change, it is the process of transitions that gains more importance than the change itself.

As a leader within an organization you are likely to be faced with different reactions from employees. The first will be the innovators:  those who want to try new ways of doing things or who have responsibility for continuous improvement. They will be pushing for change, eager to make things more efficient and up to date, and ready to try something different.

 

Then there will be the early adopters on the team who will be the first to embrace the changes. They welcome change, either because they immediately see the benefits or, perhaps, because they prefer variety to routine.

 

The early Majority are those who are influenced by initiators and early adopters and who prefer to be ahead of the wave rather than swamped by it. The late majority is more cautious. They hold back until they are sure they know what they are doing and until they believe the change has a fair chance of working. Only then do they come on board.

 

The late adopters are the last to come on board and they may not come willingly. They are not easily convinced of the value of change, but they can be moved to accept the change.

 

The diehards resist the change. They do not come on board. They may be terminated or they may be moved to a backwater position in the organization where their resistance interferes with operations less.

 

Managers and change leaders have noticed something interesting about groups that move into a transition. When 5 per cent of the people in a group adopt a change, the change is embedded. When 20 per cent  have adopted the change, the progress is unstoppable. If a leader is successful in getting innovators and early adopters onboard, the success of the change is assured.

 

Handy Hints

 

·       Employee cooperation is essential to manage change.

 

·       When 5per cent employees adopt a change, it is embedded.

 

·       When 20 per cent employees adopt change, progress is inevitable.

 

Dr. Sathya Menon is Academic Director, Blue Ocean Academy, Dubai.