Today’s ever changing economy means one thing - lots of change in the workplace. As a manager, you’ll be responsible for communicating changes within your organisation to your employees but you have a problem. The rumor mill is already running and most of your employees have already gotten themselves caught up in the buzz and may be worried about their jobs. So what can you do to help them stay calm and deal with change on a daily basis?

Explain Why the Organisation is Changing

Employees who understand why things are changing are more likely to accept change without high levels of anxiety. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a small change in procedure, if you plan to move your office location, or if you’re going to be part of a merger. Change is inevitable and the more we know and understand the easier it is to handle - regardless of where we are on the management food chain.

Remain Positive

No matter what type of news you deliver, remain as positive as possible. If you are a lower or mid-level manager you should never, under any circumstances, criticize upper management. The more respect you show for upper management the more respect your employees will show.

Remain Available

Make sure you stay available to your employees as much as possible, adopting an open door policy that will allow them to come to you with their questions or concerns. If your policy suddenly shifts from open-door to closed-door your employees will become nervous and upset and their work patterns will become disruptive.

Communicate with your employees as much as possible. The more information you can give, the better. The more secretive you are, the higher your odds of losing employees as they “jump ship” to find a more stable environment.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Leadership

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Matthew Campling, a prominent psychotherapist, once completed a case study after which he created what is now known as Campling’s Age/Work Arc Theory (or CAWA). The theory was developed after Campling asked a simple question - can a job in today’s work environment be held for life or will you have to move on as your career goals change?

The first question we really must ask ourselves is whether or not we are talking about our jobs in terms of our lifetime or in terms of careers. In today’s day and age, it is less common to find a person who sticks with the same career for an entire lifetime. Many people change careers completely at least once and some will change three or more times.

There are two facts to consider when we think about our ages in relationship to our work are a) what will make us happiest longest and b) how long we will live. We already know that people are living longer lives, so will the same jobs our parents kept from their teenage years through retirement keep us happy just as long? Whereas people were once afraid of change, change in life (and career) is now almost guaranteed.

Here are a few questions you’re eventually going to have to sit back and ask yourself:

• Do you have consistent levels of talent or will you be considered a “one hit wonder” in your career field?
• Can you ensure that your career will never be sidelined?
• Why are some people very happy with their career choices while others seem to have a tough time finding one that works for them?

There are dozens of other questions but, in short, they look to bring an understanding to the realization that many people will have a low point, high point, and then a low point (forming an arc) in their career patterns. People tend to reach a “high point” and after that seem to spiral downwards as their career cycles end.

If you are “happy” at work you may be at the peak of your career and in a few months or years may suddenly feel as though you’ve lost track of your goals, sidelining yourself.

The real question is this: what can you do as you build your career, or before you get to that pivotal high point, that will ensure you’re always happy.

Do you think it’s even possible to remain truly happy at work - forever? Think on it and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Courses

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

Times are definitely changing. As the economy shifts corporations are finding it necessary to either downsize or reevaluate their structures. In other cases the situation may be a bit more simplistic - maybe you need to upsize or move into a larger office. In the end, the reality is that no matter how “hush-hush” you try to keep your organisations sensitive information, something always gets leaked. When information gets leaked, rumours begin and as these pieces of misinformation spread people begin to get nervous.

Alright, so things are changing within your organisation. Does that fact really need to be kept a secret? Sometimes, especially if you are in a managerial position, you have to take a step back and determine whether or not it is more beneficial to share as much information as possible with your team or keep things under wraps.

Most people, when faced with change, need to feel three distinct things:

• They need to feel as though they are in control of their lives;
• They need to feel included in the process; and
• They need to feel as though you’re being open and honest.

If your employees feel included (or at least informed) when it comes to change they are more likely to work with you during the process - and, at the same time, continue doing their regular work at the same quality level. Those who feel nervous, uninformed, and out of control are likely to spend more time gossiping and less time focusing on their day to day tasks.

In the end, effective change management means it’s up to you to determine whether or not your employees will benefit from being informed of upcoming changes. It’s also up to you to determine whether or not keeping those changes a secret will have a negative impact on your department.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Courses

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Change is a constantly evolving issue. We face change every single day and, as managers, have the responsibility of guiding our teams through change unscathed.

In order to do so it is important to recognize that different types of change exist. The three main types are:

• Developmental change,
• Transitional change, and
• Transformational change

Developmental change occurs when you recognize a need to make improvements to an existing situation. You aren’t recreating the entire workflow but are instead refining it to make it better.

Transitional changes happen when you recognize the need to implement a completely new course of action. You have a set plan for making this change happen and are able to control the implementation process over a designated period of time.

Transformational change is one of the most interesting, though. Transformational change isn’t necessarily something that you control as much as you recognize and survive. A new process or “norm” creates itself as a result of the failure of another and usually takes its own shape. You can, of course, refine it as it develops but it is not usually planned.

Being able to recognize the three types of change should help you to develop your own change management skills. If you can identify the type of change occuring in your workplace you’ll be better able to control the reactions your team members have to those changes!

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Truth be told, there are only three types of organisations that exist today. They include:

• Organisations that have the power to make things happen;
• Organisations that sit back and watch things happen; and
• Organisations that are oblivious and wonder what happened.

The main difference between these three types of organisations is their ability to adapt to change. It’s really a very simple concept.

An organisation that has the power to make things happen is proactive. They study market trends, hire competant people, and are generally a couple steps ahead of the game at all times.

Those who simply watch things happen around them react, but they react too late. They’re always behind the 8 ball hoping to catch up to the competition.

The organisations left wondering what happened generally never catch up. Their performances are disappointing, their sales are usually low, and they never seem to have an original idea of their own.

The key to being like that first organisation is to remain open minded and ready to change at all times. The market, economy, and tastes of the public are always evolving. You have to be ready and willing to keep up with popular trends if you want to stay in the public spotlight. Doing so may mean making changes to your staff, procedures, or policies but in the end you’ll find taht this type of approach is a surefire way to guarantee success!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”