Change has become inevitable for all of us. People see change as a personal life component; companies introduce it as a continuous process of constant improvement in different areas, and societies communicate it as a shift in mindset and decision-making. However, no matter the impact and the frequency of change, many people are still resistant and do not accept what will happen as a positive impact.
And companies and leaders struggle to implement change with all these people against the change. There are so many forms of resisting change that a page will be filled in no time if you start counting them.
But because this is not the primary purpose of this article, there won’t be any lineup here. What you will see below are three fundamental steps of change communication that can be applied universally to ensure that support for change is growing within the group a leader wants to influence.
Explain the change carefully.
While change is good, and we all know it, people often resist change because they don’t understand it. And it is a natural reaction for the person to fight something threatening their established way of living and working. For example, a reasonable person may stop themselves from buying an expensive car because of the after-sales investment in maintenance, the taxes, etc. Although this may be a good decision for them, stopping by such factors that will hurt their budget, free time, and maybe even security habits prevents the person from fulfilling their wish. The same goes with the change – people hear the leader and start thinking what the change means for their comfort. Those who like to be in a constant move become positive, but the problem arises when the leader faces the other two groups of people – those who don’t like the change and those who don’t care about change. That is why the leader has to be prepared for the three groups. Building the story about the shift means going through different scenarios and preparing possible answers to the concerns that may arise. Of course, the leader cannot guess all the questions and prepare for all the resistance factors. However, going carefully through the change and preparing three different scenarios, each answering the needs of the three groups of people they will communicate with, is crucial to start the change process. The explanation must be flexible instead of generic. It should answer the concerns of the particular group identified and not give general information with the hope that everyone will agree eventually.
Be honest about everything.
Most change initiatives fail because leaders communicate them positively but “forget to share” the obstacles or challenges. In psychology, there is a phrase “informed decision”. For the particular person to support or deny something, there is a need to be familiar with all aspects of what will happen ahead. While a change may have many positives, people are always suspicious and search for ‘the catch” or “the elephant in the room” when they decide how to participate in a change initiative. For the leader, sharing the positive part may look motivational and engaging, but the challenges or obstacles part is also essential for the people to decide how they will react to the change. Sharing both perspectives and marking what the planned change can do to upgrade the current situation and what obstacles can arise for people to finetune their answer to the change in the most favorably Looking at the whole picture with all the nuances of the shift planned helps the person to eliminate most of the possible barriers and turn not against but in favor of the change planned. Of course, the level of support and participation may look different across the three groups involved in the process (supporters, deniers, and indifferent). However, still giving the most detailed picture, the leader boosts the maximum from each group to support or at least not sabotage the change.
Listen and respond
So many change initiatives have failed because of poor listening and responding skills. I pretty much like the speeches of CEOs of large companies who come in front of the whole company and start generic and pompous lessons about what will change. But it means nothing but a lost time for the woman from the manufacturing floor or the person whose only work is to find new clients and convince them to buy company products. To ensure the change will happen in the way it was planned, the leader should learn to first listen to all questions. The official term is “active listening,” but the simple explanation is to listen with understanding. No
matter the type of questions or the ask for clarification, it is essential to understand them before answering. Everything else will mean that the leader has already begun to create resistance against change. And while listening is vital, responding correctly is even more crucial. The more concrete the answer to the question is, the more directly it positively hits the person, even if they didn’t hear what they wanted to hear as an answer. The more forward the leader reacts, the more people they can turn to supporters of the change initiative planned.
IN CONCLUSION:
There is no right or wrong way to present a change in front of the people around you. Leaders are challenged to translate change into many streams to gain more comprehensive support. The more direct and close to the different groups of the organization the change explanation is, the more they will focus on searching for ways and internal motivation for participating in that change. The distance the difference looks for the particular person or group, the lesser the support will be, and the more the challenges across the path to success will be.
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