Change is something that cannot be overlooked in a professional or even personal life. At your workplace, you’re required to react to change, embrace it, and adjust to it in a given time period. This can be difficult at times. But that’s when change management training comes into play and helps employees.
The hesitancy to accept change is totally understandable. According to McKinsey's research, it was shown that 70% of change management training programs fail to achieve their goals, mainly because of employees’ resistance and lack of management support. The good thing is that there are ways to reduce this likelihood to ensure your training program doesn’t fall apart with change management.
- Preparing employees for change
It is always advisable that you prepare your employees in advance for the upcoming change. Using targeted change management training, you can ensure employees understand the importance of change and embrace it with a positive attitude. The best change management training has 3 main elements –
- A communication plan
How do you plan to communicate the change to the employees? If it is a minor change in terms and conditions or a new policy, an email will do the job. But if it is a major change, an email will not be enough. You need to plan the communication – the approach, plan for team meetings and bring executives for support.
Take time to evaluate what impact the change would have on employees and what is the best way to minimize the effects and problems.
- A leadership toolkit
Leaders set the mood for change. The way they accept or react to change becomes highly noticeable. Effective change management training provides a toolkit for leaders to guide their teams through change. It provides the right resources that’ll answer the questions and doubts of the team members and will help in overcoming obstacles as well.
- A strategy to maintain productivity
Change can be disruptive in nature. Even a small change can sometimes make things upside down. To handle any kind of change effectively, proper training needs to happen. It should include how to deal with potential distractions and roadblocks while implementing change, and how to maintain stability while going through the change program.
10 steps to approach change effectively
- Address the human side in a systematic manner
- Begin at the top
- Involve every layer of the hierarchy
- Make it a formal case
- Create ownership and accountability
- Communicate the message
- Assess the cultural landscape
- Address culture explicitly
- Prepare for the unexpected
- Speak to the individual
Making change management meaningful
It is important to understand that change management training cannot just end once the change is implemented. It needs to be an ongoing process, and only then it can be a complete success. Change management sustainability looks slightly different. Here’s what it comprises of –
- Use microlearning – once employees have completed the change management training, make sure the learnings are revised with quizzes or mini e-learning modules.
- Create a support network – set up a network and encourage teams to meet and discuss their progress, their learnings, and the challenges they faced.
- Check-in with teams – on completion of the training encourages team members to set goals for how effectively they can embrace and accept change. Check-in at 30, 60, and 90 days after the program to see how the employees are working towards accomplishing their goals.
Moving forward with change for complete success
Instead of fearing change, you should try and adapt to it. If you don’t step out of your comfort zone and take risks, you’ll not be able to learn. Take the help of change management training to achieve success.
