People have a hard time accepting changes. They hate change and usually they ignore and repress it until it surprises them.

Managing people in times of change is not easy. Here are some tips for making good organizational changes:

Change Management

1. The change is here to stay! As I stated, people don’t like changes, and because of that they are usually ignore it and deny its existence. Our employees treat organizational change as management caprice, which will vanish as soon as the big boss will come down. That is why the message must be clear, simple (no double meaning) and assertive. The earlier your people absorb the message the better the change will be accepted and managed. Let everyone (include yourself) understand that the change is here to stay.
2. Resistance to change is not true resistance Change is something that is forced onto the organization as a strategic management decision. The employees feel they have no real choice, which destabilize them and arouse emotional reactions such as anger, helplessness etc. The more one fears the upcoming change, the more one feels helpless, which makes one less likely to see the benefit of it and cooperate. It is easy to interpret those behaviors as resistance against the change and against the management. They are not. Those behaviors are emotional reactions and you should deal with them with the proper tools: empathy, patience and tolerance, understanding and open-mindedness.
3. Describe the future Saying goodbye to the past is very important in change processes. Suddenly, everyone remembers how good things were before the change. In retrospect everything was just perfect, and the management cannot understand it. Your employees are too busy to reconstruct the past. It is hard to give up on the present for a vague future. But a good, tangible, and realistic description of the future, emphasizing all the new opportunities and the motives for the change, will ease your people to accept the new situation and increase their commitment to the goals of change in the upcoming future.
4. Manage the adaptation period Organizational change does not happen once, especially when dealing with massive and complex changes, which effects firmly established habits or long-running, cross-method processes. Change requires adaptation, and adaptation takes time. Legitimate the adaptation process and don’t demand your people to achieve the most right from the start. Gradient achievement more likely guarantees that everyone accepts, understands and is willing to act toward the new order. Good organizational change plans set measured targets spread over some time (usually 3-6 months).
5. Don’t flounder- decide! Don’t be afraid to make hard decisions, even if the uncertainty that arises from them out is high. Since your people expect you to lead them to the journey of change, you rather have good decision now than Great decision later. If you’ll find out that your choice wasn’t as you’ve expected- don’t change it. Consistency is one of the principles in order to achieve stability in the process of change.

In conclusion, changes are blessed in every learning and growing organization. CEO must always be aware of the fact that it is also not that easy to assimilate changes.

Business simulations, such as The CEO Game, examine your ability to produce changes in your company. Of course, there is no simulation that 100% matches reality, but the more experienced you are the better you’ll manage the change.

Nimrod.

The CEO Game.