How Employees Become Loyal Champions
Too many organisations go through transformation without involving key people. When this happens, employees feel wronged, disengage, and become unsupportive. These are the human dynamics of change. Fail to consider them, and your transformation projects will suffer, but make them inclusive, engaging opportunities, and you’ll bring the magic out in your people.
How it Feels to Be Left Out
It’s Friday morning at the insurance company you’ve given ten years of commitment and energy to. You’re feeling inspired and checking your inbox in anticipation of a positive response for the leadership role you’ve applied for. Perhaps an invite for the next round of interviews?
You hit that HR email and find it’s got nothing to do with your application; it’s something a lot more ominous! “Dear Employee, at the end of the month, your business unit will be made redundant, and your role will be integrated into the claims department.” “Please await further communication.”
Your heart sinks and you suddenly feel ill, you’re instantly angry, confused, and scared. A million questions pop up… “Is my job safe?” “Will I still have a shot at leadership?” “Will my salary be affected?” “How could they do this to me?”
Right now, you have more questions than answers, and although somewhere in the company’s strategy, there’s an explanation, it hasn’t reached you yet. How you felt about the business just minutes before has quickly changed.
Why The Human Experience Matters
So why the sudden and intense emotional response to a business change? Because humans are drawn to safety. They’d like to know there are no threats to their well-being. They’re wired this way, and when they find themselves in situations they don’t understand or have control over, the alarm bells sound.
It includes uncertainty at work, a place representing security, prosperity, safety, and happiness, and when organisations carry out shifts without proper engagement, employees are presented with difficult emotions and may become unsupportive.
Employees derive meaning from aspects of their role and from their ability to contribute to the bigger picture. Transformation strategies that consider this and address the human component of change have a much more solid foundation to build from.
Business Transformation Starts With People
Making people part of the plan should be a given. It’s an authentic display of care that highlights the respect you have for them as part of your team, and it shows you value their input. But there’s a lot more to it.
By engaging a wider audience, you’re likely to find the real gems of your business transformation plan. These include fresh, creative ideas, broader collaboration, a significant cultural impact, and the unearthing of passionate change champions who’ve just been waiting to make a more meaningful contribution.
Zurich Life Insurance demonstrated this when pressed to adapt to changing markets. Their business transformation considered the human dynamics of change and encouraged people to come up with solutions. The process gave them autonomy and dismantled silos which made them feel connected to everything that was going on.
For Zurich, the result was a hugely successful transformation project which created a more collaborative and happier workplace, an outcome that tells us what we can achieve by being inclusive, engaging, and transparent.
Coaching Powers Successful Transformations
Why should human dynamics rank as the top priority when transforming? Because engaged and supportive employees create a culture where transformation is a strength.
Effective coaching and leadership development initiatives encourage a more inclusive approach to change because they give leaders the skills to help people through the stress of transformative periods and empower them to communicate in a way that leaves no one shut out or confused.
Executive coaching solutions also help employees overcome resistance, encourage them to see change as an opportunity rather than a threat and realign their objectives so they can move positively with the change process.
An engaged workforce is a fluid one, and that may be the single most important attribute needed for us to thrive in an exciting but uncertain future.
As a leading provider with 25 years of experience coaching leaders in blue-chip companies and government, Change Partners is perfectly positioned to help you advance.
Ashwin Rajah is a Certified Agile Transformation Coach at Change Partners with a wealth of multinational blue-chip corporate experience from finance to technology. As a highly qualified executive coach and mentor, he uses proven methodologies to turn complex business challenges into real success stories.
His experience and passion for developing leaders make him an asset to any business serious about achieving its best. Contact him at ashwinrajah@change.co.za or on 083 566 4813 to help you take your performance to the next level.