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Valuing the Human Elements In Organizational Change
Why is it so important to evaluate and value the human issues prior to developing a change plan for an organization?
Prior to developing a change plan for an organization, it is important to evaluate the human issues so the organizational change plan has the greatest opportunity for success. Any plan for change involving a human element requires careful consideration for the affect and effect it will have on workforce from an acceptance, morale, and execution perspective.
Today’s workforce is far from the command and control structures that dominated the workplace of the early 20th century. Workers today expect to be involved in planning, initiating, and controlling changes. Today’s workforce expects to understand the impact of changes on themselves and their work situation. Acceptance of an organizational change by those people most affected is vital to the change being accepted and embraced. Workers that feel the human issues were ignored or not fully evaluated can engage in silent protests expressing their feelings through work slowdowns, quality degradation, resignations, unproductive gossip, and absenteeism. All of these forms of protest bear hidden, but real, cost.
It takes careful evaluation of the human issues along with a careful and caring process of setting expectations to help workers begin to accept the realities of change in the workplace. No matter which change model or blended change model you use, tediously tending to the human issues involved in an organizational change will increase the chances for a successful change. Take a moment to recall an organizational change that involved you, or that you were assigned to lead. As you recall the details of the change, look for opportunities for improvement or confirmation in the following advice. A good change plan which values the human issues involved with organizational change will include the following:
Anticipation – Most organizational changes are staged or phased and represent an initiative that supports an organizational strategy. Consider using a spidergram approach to defining the expected human issues and impacts to each stage or phase of the organizational change. Post the easy and obvious anticipated issues and impacts until you have exhausted every reasonable consideration. . Now consider the unanticipated impacts and issues posting these until all reasonable considerations are exhausted. To be the most effective at anticipating the unexpected, it helps to put yourself in the position of those most affected by the organizational change and empathetically analyze how you view, feel, and will react to the organizational change. Organize your spidergrams into logical groupings from which you can develop action plans and action owners. For more information on the use of spidergrams, contact us.
Participation – From your workanticipating, consider when, how, and to what degree you can involve others. The involvement of others in the development, implementation, and controlling of organizational change will vary based upon the nature of the organizational change. As a rule of thumb, the earlier and deeper you can involve other stakeholders, the more likely your organizational change will be understood, embraced, and appreciated.
Communication – Also from your work with spidergrams and anticipating the human issues and impacts, you can begin to outline a communications strategy and owner. Fold your communications strategy into your project plan so communications have a specified owner, are timely, and directed to the appropriate audience.
The content of the communication will be driven by the nature of the organizational change, internal communications policies, and the nature of the information being conveyed. Take the opportunity through this high-touch opportunity to convey the key points of your message wrapped with empathetic language indicating thoughtful consideration for the feelings, issues, and impact to the people involved with the organizational change.
Valuation – Understand and accept the maxim that change is inevitable in a business organization, not everyone will embrace change equally or enthusiastically. You can however value the human elements of organization through compassion and credibility. If your change plan shows forethought and compassion for the human element through anticipation, participation, and communication, those few mistakes made in the implementation of the plan will meet with a greater level of understanding and tolerance. If your change plan indicates thorough planning, attention to detail, and respect for the human issues, leadership will build credibility valuation for future changes with stakeholders. Neither compassion nor credibility will show up in a financial valuation, however any experienced change leader will attest to the intangible value each represents to a business organization.
Ovation – Celebrate and take credit where credit is due for orchestrating an organizational change that values the human element throughout the course of the change. Seek feedback through anecdotal conversations, surveys, and focus groups. Openly document lessons learned and commit to future modifications based on these lessons. Quickly remediate any serious employee issues with the same enthusiasm you would use if your most valuable customer were impacted.
Now that we have discussed a practical approach to valuing the human element in organizational change, consider the change scenario you had in mind a few moments ago and what you might do differently. Go ahead and make your notes right here.
What problem(s) could you have avoided through the use of human element valuation approaches?
Would your credibility as a change leader have been enhanced by using this approach? How?
How will you calibrate the next organizational change to value the human element throughout the change?
Will your future project management approaches and work breakdown structures reflect activities dedicated to valuing the human element in organizational change? How?
Will you change your measures of success for organizational change to include measures for valuing the human element? How?
Only you will know the answers to these questions and how best to adapt to future organizational changes based upon your collective past experiences. Only you will know how to blend human valuation elements into your organization’s collective personality and culture.