Change is good. Change is necessary. Whether you’re a start-up or a global corporation, change is a part of the business lifecycle. Implementing new tools or processes can be daunting but when done well, it can help you grow your business, stay ahead of competition, and adapt to changing external forces (hello, Covid 19!).
How to implement change effectively in your company?
At LineZero, we help our clients implement Workplace in their community, and supporting them through change management is a huge part of that. Here are our best practices for implementing change in your organization and, most of all, ensuring that for your employees, the experience is a positive one.
1. Communication & transparency is key
The number one most important thing during any kind of transition is communication. This can make or break the way that change is perceived and accepted within your organization. You want people to know exactly what is happening, why it’s happening, when it’s happening, and most importantly what their role in it is.
The best type of communication is timely, direct, and tailored to the audience you’re speaking to. For example, the impact that a new company-wide process will have on the C-Suite team will be completely different from the impact to your frontline, and communications should reflect that.
2. Include different people in the discovery process
Before you even begin the process of change, you must do your due diligence to get to the root of the reasons for change and the desired outcomes. Sometimes the best ideas come out of the most unexpected places and if you’re implementing a new tool/process across the entire organization then you’ll want to make sure that everyone’s concerns, pain points and perspectives are taken into consideration.
The bottom line is you want to avoid operating in a bubble and making assumptions for areas of the business that you may not have direct line of sight into. Getting input from people across the entire organization can help you ensure that the change will actually bring value and have a positive impact on people's day to day.
3. Engage a group of champions
At LineZero, we call them champions, but they can also be your early adopters, ambassadors, or cheerleaders. These are the people that will help you spread awareness, build buy-in, and foster engagement among your community so the more diverse the group, the better. They can also be valuable as a 2-way communication channel by both spreading the message and conveying any feedback back to the main project team.
4. Introduce change in phases
A large-scale change can be more successful if implemented in phases. This can be accomplished through rollouts to different groups of people at different times or progressively introducing new steps in a process. Breaking things down can help ease people into things and also allows the project team to manage expectations, feedback, and iterate processes if needed.
5. Offer rewards & recognition
Recognizing employees is always important, but it’s even more important during transitional periods. Celebrating achievements and recognizing employees that are adopting new tools/processes can be incredibly effective in reinforcing behaviors and acknowledging good work.
6. Have a feedback loop
During a time of change, gathering feedback is incredibly important to hear how people feel about the transition. Giving people the opportunity to ask questions and voice their opinions, concerns, and ideas can help you get ahead of any issues and prioritize improvements.
Interested in implementing Workplace in your organization but don’t know where to start? We can help. Get in touch today!
Not using Workplace by Meta yet?
Want to see how Workplace by Meta could take your internal communications strategy to the next digital level and help you to reach everyone across your organization in a more efficient and effective manner? Give us a shout! Through a live demo of the Workplace platform, we’ll help you to brainstorm ideas on how to utilize Workplace to achieve your organization’s goals and objectives around internal communications.
Already Using Workplace by Meta?
If you’d like to explore more opportunities to learn how to use Workplace to improve your internal communications strategy and be part of the Corporate Metaverse, we’d love to chat! Give us a call if you want to learn how to use Workplace to enhance employee interaction and engagement.
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