During the week of October 12, I’ll be attending the CoreNet Global Summit in Las Vegas with the theme “Convening for Change.” I’m excited about my first trip to Vegas and look forward to new insights about delivering and managing change in the workplace.

Currently, our team at Touch Points is engaged in a multi-faceted change management project with a Fortune 200 firm in Atlanta. This client is discovering that as they reconfigure workspaces to accommodate a more mobile and technology-driven workforce, the virtual worker is one of the most important assets in their new environment of open workspaces that encourage creativity and collaboration.

If you are moving toward a workplace culture of mobility and telework, here are Six Steps to making your change project a success!

1. Define the Change and Success
Be sure to clearly define all the change opportunities and the measures for success. Don’t just use financial drivers. Be sure to include expectations for employee satisfaction and
productivity.

2. Build a Governance Model
With any amount of change, it’s a good idea to line up your supporters and identify your key resources. The Governance Model is a simple organizational chart that shows the executive level support, the senior leaders responsible for successful outcomes, along with the team assembled to tactically make the project happen.

3. Create an Integrated Delivery Team
Change impacts every facet of a company and that’s why you need a comprehensive team made up of individuals from key areas within the company to solve the issues and deliver success. The delivery team should include representatives from technology, security, human resources, communication and facilities, along with other key influencer groups within your business.

4. Make the Employee Experience = EASY
Always keep the employee perspective in mind as you develop timelines for the delivery process of the change. For example: Include quick-start training materials for any new technology in your master plan for delivering change. Think about what employees need to maintain productivity during the change period, as well as what they need to be successful in the new workplace environment.

5. Listen, Listen, Listen
Employees want to be successful in their jobs and they have great ideas to share, so build-in opportunities for two-way communication such as:

· Informal coffee break sessions for employees to relax and share experiences.
· A Champion’s Team made up of influential employees who are
connected to the “grapevine.”
· A survey about what went well and what could have been better.

6. Measure employee attitudes about both the change delivery process AND the
change impact
Build pre- and post-change measurement tactics into your change plan. There’s a direct correlation between a well-orchestrated delivery process and the employees’ overall view of the workplace change project. If possible, establish your baseline for employee attitudes about productivity and job satisfaction early in the project (i.e., pre-change measurement), and then wait at least 90 days after the workplace change has occurred to conduct your post-change measurement.

Recently, we collaborated with Ratekin Consulting on a presentation about managing and delivering workplace change to the Retail Merchants Association in Richmond, Va. This video clip includes a short segment from that presentation to almost 200 business leaders.

Hope to see you in Vegas—send me an email at jennifer@touchpointspr.com if you’re going to be there and would like to meet for a cup of coffee and talk about change!

Jennifer

When faced with change, we all react differently. It’s personal. The bottom line is about trust.  There are really only two questions that need to be answered—how will employees directly benefit from the change and do they trust the leaders? Answer these two questions and you’ll know exactly how hard the change process will be.

Many organizations are filled with analysts who approach change with logic and reason. Funny thing is that our minds don’t exactly work that way when faced with change. CIO magazine documented recent brain research that showcases just how our brains react when faced with change.

The most effective change management programs communicate both the logical reason for the change and the benefits of the change to employees. This doesn’t mean that  employees will immediately accept the change or even trust the initial benefits being touted. What it does mean is that they will quickly begin assessing the impact on them–personally. They will decide if they can trust the information. Every step in the change process will either build trust or create more doubts.

Managing change is not about controlling employee’s reactions. It’s about helping them get through the change so they can be productive. Doubts, anger, resentment—these are all things that take away from productivity and satisfaction. Change programs cannot remove the barriers to change. They can however, help the employee move through the process informed and thinking about how they can control their own success. Sometimes it takes months of support after the change for employees to really accept and process the change. Everyone’s change curve is different. It’s personal.