“Change” - It doesn’t have to be a bad word

When I wrapped up my time in the Marines and transitioned into a customer service role, I learned the hard way that my communication skills were lacking. Having gotten used to thinking of my peers and subordinates as line items on a roster, I was negatively affecting my team’s ability to do our job with the way I communicated changes in process or procedure.

While I was great at building rapport with customers, I had a tendency to be a bit abrasive or insensitive toward my own co-workers. It took a serious conversation with my mentor at the time for me to tone it down some, which involved the oft-repeated cliche that our team members were our greatest resource. I’ve since learned that this statement is absolutely true, but people are more than just resources to be allocated and it's important to recognize when they’re feeling unsure or uncomfortable.

Fast forward a few years. As my career’s progressed and I’ve been further removed from the “front line” and taken more ownership over things like quotas, or a store or department profit & loss statement, I’ve had to be careful not to lump in my employees with other resources like supplies and equipment. At the end of the day, or fiscal year if you prefer, it’s true that you do need to make changes based on business needs. That doesn’t eliminate your responsibility to be cognizant of your employees’ thoughts and feelings though, and the effects these have on your organization’s performance.

Although it may not be specified in the job description, one of the most important responsibilities that the leader in any organization has must be engaging the team. It’s all well and good for a manager to simply spell out goals and priorities, but you can’t just leave it at that. There is absolutely a human element that cannot be ignored in the long term. People are not cogs in a machine to be counted and distributed without context. It may be easy for a manager to rate or disposition or performance manage employees without knowing or caring about them personally -- but eventually what you’ll end up with is robots. You can probably imagine, robots don’t care for your organization’s vision one way or the other.

Organizational changes can be hard for employees to adapt to, and it’s important for leaders to understand that change management is a legitimate skill worth developing. It takes communicating in a constructive way, explaining the change and its desired effects to your team so they understand the part they play in the bigger picture, and executing the plan as effectively as possible to retain employee trust in their leadership. You’ll find that changes are easier to swallow when rolled out in such a manner that employees can buy into them and get behind your mission rather than numbly following orders and instructions. Try trusting your team and treating them like they own a piece of the business. After all, they have a stake in it too.

Have you ever felt blindsided or challenged by a change in the way your organization does business? Ever rolled out new strategies or directives and gotten a less-than-enthusiastic response from your staff? Please feel free to contribute to the discussion in the comments section! If you’ve enjoyed spending a few minutes reading “The Boss Perspective,” subscribe and share this link with your friends, Like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter @BossPerspective.