May 1, 2020
Has this pandemic crisis made you look at your work or business differently? Soon, we will be embracing this so-called “new normal” that we keep hearing about. Whether your business is deemed essential or non-essential, you were forced to do something differently: we all had to make rapid decisions on how to manage people, workflows, and create a high-level business plan to adjust. Strategic goals and objectives have changed, the number of customers and patient visits, daily deliveries, working from home, shifting work schedules, and safety standards have all changed.
We DON’T know what it will look like, but what we do know is that the “new normal” is MASSIVELY going to change our lives, personally and professionally. Although change is inevitable, I believe that we can offset some of it by thinking outside the box… not just thinking outside the box, working together to ensure the box isn’t even part of the picture! We need to find ways to maximize efficiency and lead ever more brilliantly.
Nobody can rely on what worked before... So now is the time to recharge, reengage, and thrive by gaining a lot of clarity and also, to slow down and address all the things you may have put on the back burner because when things were as per usual... we had no time and no bandwidth to get it done to prepare for an awesome start.
When a person considers change, they either have a negative or a positive outlook of how the change will impact the company. Consider these three simple ideas to overcome resistance to change in your organization.
1. Create a well thought-out plan.
2. Transparency and communication are important to your staff and clients when your company is experiencing a major change. The communication strategy should include a timeline for how the change will be incrementally communicated, target audience, key messages, and instructions. For example, here’s a couple of ways to embrace the changes happening in your company using Kotter’s 8 Step change model to serve as a successful roadmap to operationalize any of your organization’s initiatives.
An open line of communication is a good strategy that can change the atmosphere and the performance of your employees; open communication builds a great rapport with your clients and this can easily lead to new clients, thus creating more revenue for your company. Nevertheless, communication requires two-way interaction, top-down and bottom-up, throughout the organization. Employees should be able to build a connection with you as the leader so that if concerns or ideas arise, there is no barrier and these thoughts can be freely expressed. You must build an effective communication process with the team.
3.Decipher your resources and time: When big changes occur within an organization, they usually come with a price tag. In order to efficiently pay for this cost, learn what potential resources may be available to the organization. Making sure that if you have partners to collaborate with, they have access to non-sensitive details of your plan. Providing them with a well-detailed plan saves you time in trying to explain the change. Most partners and investors would rather have solid evidence. Make sure you also underline how your resources would benefit from providing support.
In the end, when you are considering a change in your business, make sure that the plan for change has been completely conceived. Address the potential obstacles before execution takes shape. Once these obstacles have been fully addressed, create a two-way interactive communication system so that all thoughts and suggestions are evident.
Lastly, attached to the link above, you will find access to my post COVID-19 Organizational Re-Alignment Checklist that I have been developing for clients to prepare for getting back into the swing of things. I wanted to share these with you as well. The list is meant to be as comprehensive as possible, so not everything may apply directly to your situation.
Happy to Help!
And in the words of “Sounds of Blackness - Hold On (Change Is Comin) You can Make it.”
Your mission is possible! Stay safe!