Vicki Halsey - 6 Strategies for Helping Your Team Manage Change

You remember the old saying about the only two certainties in life, right? Death and taxes. Well, I think we should add a third: change. Life, by its very nature, requires change. All living things change over the course of their existence; there’s no getting around it.

Today, our organizations – businesses, churches, governments, schools, community organizations – experience change more rapidly than at any time in history. Technology has simultaneously shrunk the size of our world and sped up our interactions. Communication that 20 years ago would have taken several days to complete can now be handled in seconds or minutes. Our world is changing fast and leaders need to be effective change managers if they want their teams and organizations to thrive.

Here are six strategies for helping your team embrace and manage change:

1. Help them understand the need for change – Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, it’s amazing how many leaders launch change initiatives without their teams understanding why the change is necessary. One way to help your team understand the need for change is to share information openly. Leader’s are often afraid to share information if they haven’t figured everything out ahead of time. You need to be discerning in what you share and how you share it, but sharing information about the need for change will help your team understand the necessity for doing something different. If you help your team see what you see, know what you know, and understand what you understand, they will probably reach the same decision as you regarding the need to change.

2. Engage your team in planning the change – I love this quote: “Those who plan the battle rarely battle the plan.” Rather than going it alone and planning the change all by yourself, or limiting participation to just your closest confidants, pursue a high involvement strategy by getting more people engaged in the planning process. Involving your team creates a sense of ownership in the outcome of the plan, resulting in a higher level of engagement and commitment to the success of the plan.

3. Address the concerns of your team members – When faced with a change, people experience a series of concerns in a predictable and sequential process. The first stage is information concerns. Your people need to know what the change is and why it’s needed. The second stage is personal concerns. Team members want to know how the change will impact them individually. Will I win or lose? What’s in it for me? Will there be new expectations of me? The third stage is implementation concerns. What do I do first? Second? Will the organization provide the necessary resources? Will I have enough time? Will there be new training involved? It’s critical for leaders to address these stages of concerns to alleviate fear and anxiety so their team can embrace the change effort.

4. Give the team autonomy and permission to make changes – Undoubtedly your team will uncover details you didn’t consider. Make it clear upfront that you give team members permission and the autonomy to make minor adjustments along the way to better implement the change initiative. Of course there will be certain nonnegotiables that can’t or shouldn’t be changed, but give the team clear boundaries for what they can change so they feel more in control of the change process.

5. Create emotional moments to help the team “feel it” – This past week the Wall Street Journal published an article about basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski using “moments” to help his team of volunteer, highly paid NBA professionals develop a sense of pride, patriotism, and commitment for playing for Team USA during their professional off-season. Do the same for your team to build commitment for the change initiative. It might be a ceremony of burning an old policy manual that is being replaced by a new process, cutting a ceremonial ribbon for the new computer system being installed, or holding a party to celebrate the birth of a new team or department.

6. Be open to feedback and changing course – It’s impossible to think of every contingency when implementing a change initiative. You can be guaranteed that your plan will encounter bumps in the road and you will catch some heat for it. Be open to feedback and changing course if needed. Responding to feedback defensively by digging in your heels and refusing to listen to others will only cause your team to lose commitment and actually work against the success of the plan rather than working for it.

If you’re interested in additional strategies for making change stick, I encourage you to download this free white paper. Feel free to leave a comment and share your own strategies for managing change.

6 Strategies for Helping Your Team Manage Change