What are your best tips for supporting and empowering team members during and after a change?

One thing I have learned that has helped me think about and plan for change management communication is called the Head, Heart, and Hands framework. The Head part is all about explaining the "why" with logic, reasoning, and analysis. Then comes the Heart, where you focus on the emotional part - getting people inspired and connecting with the company's mission and values. Lastly, the Hand aspect dives into the logistics and/or details and lays out what everyone can expect next. Since each person processes change differently, using this approach helps you communicate in a way that covers all the bases to try and resonate with as many people as possible.

Communicating and conveying the vision is a central core to change success. Bring the employees on the journey of change with you. Do not wait to have a complete answer to put in a big reveal. Transparency and trust will build the more you can share. Core elements include: -WIIFM? - vision - Why change? Why now? - what happens if we don’t change? - what does success look like in the future state? - how does this make our company and performance better? - how will culture align with our strategy? If you can hit this in the early part of the awareness campaign, you will gain momentum and support.

In my experience, it is essential for leadership to not only communicate the need for the change but also to acknowledge both the positive and negative impacts of the change. While the negative impacts are typically short-term and related to learning curves, expressing some empathy in advance for what you are asking your workforce to do can bolster buy-in and help keep morale high.

Communicating the vision, the benefits, and the goals is how leaders create enthusiasm and momentum for a change. Painting the picture of a better / different future can be inspiring. However, it doesn't often reduce resistance or anxiety. To help people overcome their fears, they need to understand how it will impact them specifically, what they will need to do differently, why, and how. Importantly, communication is a two-way street. Listening to people's concerns, acknowledging fears, asking for input, and involving stakeholders in the decision-making process are key components of effective communication.

Communication of the vision and the change is most effective when there is a trust relationship in the organization. That can be built and nurtured through strong relationships between leaders and their teams. These relationships are built over time through intentional conversations. When that foundation is in place it is much easier to for team members to trust and accept change.

Empowering people to power change does require active participation in the planning and implementation process. At the same time, including people in the process shouldn't just be specific to a change, ideally this level of collaboration, trust, and respect for people's expertise is core to the organization's culture. How can you tell? Observe how people work. Do leaders and teams share information freely? Are impacted stakeholders brought into the process before important decisions are made? Do people feel empowered to speak up? Empowerment doesn't occur before and after a change. It's developed as a community, over time and with intention.

By doing this, you are also building adoption as opposed to resistance. Engaging your employees in a variety of ways is invaluable to the results. Their contributions can help make better informed decisions about future state. They can also champion the cause with their colleagues and team.

It should be noted that there is a distinction between training and coaching. Training equips people with the knowledge and understanding to perform in the new reality. It is usually developed and delivered by the change or training lead on a project, a subject matter expert, or an L&D team. Coaching helps people develop and grow personally and professionally. Coaching can help people let go of patterns and behaviors that may be holding them back, gain new perspectives, and develop greater self-awareness. Managers/leaders can develop coaching skills to improve how they communicate with their teams and colleagues, which is useful during organizational changes.

Training and coaching are two different things. Training equips people with the knowledge and understanding to perform in the new reality. It is usually developed and delivered by the change or training lead on a project, a subject matter expert, or L&D team. Coaching helps people develop and grow personally and professionally. Coaching can help people let go of patterns and behaviors that may be holding them back, gain new perspectives, and develop greater self-awareness. Managers / leaders can develop coaching skills to improve how they communicate with their teams and colleagues, which is useful during organizational changes.

If there is a change, this means that people have to unlearn,learn and relearn the new way of working. This means they need support. Training and coaching are very important. Coaching is also a great tool for people leaders so that they can help their team with the change. Training should empower employees to perform the work in their daily job.

Deliver training and coaching services. The change process can necessitate team members to acquire fresh skills, tools, or processes, which can be a daunting and overwhelming task for some. In order to bolster and enable your team members amidst and following a transition, it is recommended that you furnish them with sufficient training and coaching, thereby equipping them with the necessary know-how and capabilities to perform their duties with efficacy and efficiency. It is imperative to customize the training and coaching according to the requirements and ensure continuous support and feedback are provided to them. Through the provision of training and coaching, the confidence and capabilities of your team.

I realize this is fairly non-traditional but, as a manager, I’ve had a lot of success with writing well-crafted resume content for team members who supported (dare I say “survived”) a tough change. I find that giving someone a polished description about their accomplishment, specifically for them to include on their resume and LinkedIn profile, creates a special moment between a manager and team member. For me, it’s an authentic way to show people 1) here’s the exact description of how you add value to the team, 2) I genuinely support your personal and professional growth, and 3) even though you could easily get an offer to work for another company, I intend to treat you so well that you won’t want to.

Once the change is launched, it is so important to recognize the efforts, the achievements,and new performance. This acts as a reinforcement to model the right behaviors with recognition and rewards. If not done, how will they know how they’re doing? They also risk reverting back to old ways and habits.

This is true for team members, as well as management. When was the last time you told your boss they were doing a great job? People leaders need recognition too, not because they need an ego-stroke but because it's helpful to get feedback that aligns with the strategy and decision-making. Are they on the right track? If so, tell them. Recognition should happen at all levels.

The fastest way to foster and encourage collaboration is face-to-face. Using virtual platforms and digital tools is important, but building trust and connection happens quicker in-person. This doesn't mean all meetings must be in-person or employees should be onsite all the time. What it means is: make the moments together meaningful. Then, let people work how they work best, using the tools and resources provided, to collaborate on the change strategy, planning, and implementation.

Look for early ways to build a close working relationship with those that are being expected to lead the change. Look for quick wins that demonstrate you are there to help early adopters to be successful and provide support, not to find fault, that way you will develop a much needed level of trust that will serve you well when things get bumpy, as they often do during complex change projects.

Define what success is by establishing milestones and benchmarks. Doing this allows everyone to understand success. Not doing this means that you’re now trying to match other people’s expectations of what they thought success was going to be. You will also need to identify an assigned owner for go forward plans. This person should be familiar with the change and the work as part f their work b/c they have a stake in it. Set them up for success so they have a plan to monitor metrics, know what to do when further change is needed, and how to respond when performing may change negatively.

You should also share examples and success stories of how the change benefits the team and goals of the organization. These examples will help others see how peers have proven benefits from successful implementation of the change. This will also highlight the change resulting impacts on lagging metrics.

Be a servant leader. Don't make the change all about you. Avoid becoming a single voice but rather, encourage those around you to shout about the change and join you in promoting the change amongst those most impacted.

Well, it's simple really. I sprinkle a little extra motivation on their morning coffee, give out free confidence-boosting high-fives, and occasionally organize "awkward dance move" competitions to keep everyone engaged. Just kidding! In reality, it's all about clear communication, active listening, offering support, and showing them that change can be as smooth as a well-buttered slide.

These are all very important components of driving change. We all know that change can be uncomfortable, even threatening to humans. It's in our DNA. The key to successful Big Change is ensuring that you're designing that change in a purposeful way, and involving those who will be impacted in the process. The leader's responsibility is then to ensure that people feel heard and to be open to adjusting the change strategy. Generally, people will adapt to changes if they understand why it needs to happen, even if they don't like what the change means to them. But, as was pointed out above, if they are involved in shaping the change journey, they're much more likely to both understand and embrace the change.