What do you associate when you hear the word ‘change’? Does it give you an anticipatory, positive feeling or do you shrug and start fearing the worst?
At the moment, many organisations are facing changes as the world of work is constantly changing and evolving, not in the least due to COVID-19. What we do know is that change is moving at a faster pace, and we need to make sure our employees feel safe and listened to in these turbulent times.
Unfortunately, around 70% of change initiatives tend to be unsuccessful. There are many ways to look at change, and one piece of research by Rafferty et al (2013) has reviewed the evidence behind the individual, team and organisational factors that affect ‘change readiness’ during a period of organisational change.
To summarise what is important to consider when planning for change, here is what Rafferty et al’s review shows are the factors for how well people cope:
- Someone’s personality and unique characteristics
- Someone’s openness to change and positive or negative feelings around change in general
- If someone has had a previously good or bad experience of change, this will influence how they view change now
- If they believe that the organisation will cope well with change or not
- If they believe that change is actually needed or not
- If they believe they will be supported throughout the process or not
- If they have an inner belief that they personally will cope well with change or not
- If they worry that their job might be in danger or not
Each person brings their own unique thoughts and feelings based on their previous experiences to their team which leads us onto how well teams cope with change:
- The collective feeling in the team about the change process – if the majority of the team are positive about a potential change, then it is likely that the rest of the team will be influenced by their feelings and be positive too – this is called ‘emotional contagion’ – the clue is in the word, it is unconsciously contagious!
On an organisational level, how the organisation goes about selecting and holding on to their employees impacts the company culture, which in turns impacts how employees are socialised into the organisation too. This impacts how they think and behave as a bigger group.
Finally, leadership plays a very important role in how ready an organisation will be for change. If there is a transformational leader who believes in the change, has a clear vision and is positive about the future – AND is able to communicate this to their employees in an authentic way, then this will have a big impact.
When have you witnessed excellent leadership during a time of change? Let us know!
