Change is never easy. That is why entire positions and departments are often dedicated to the management of new policies and tech. In today’s rapidly changing world, effective change management is more necessary than ever.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, it affected nearly every industry in one way or another. Businesses have had to learn and readjust quickly to mitigate damages. But these necessary changes can set up a business for long-term success if managed in an effective manner.
Times of global uncertainty may perhaps be the perfect time to integrate new strategies, adopt new tech, and set up your company for a successful future. Here’s how.
Integrate New Strategies
In the wake of COVID-19, businesses are adopting new strategies all the time to accommodate the new normal. Managing this reality requires you to have openness, adaptability, and a willingness to work with others to accommodate needs and anxieties.
The key to all these strategies is maintaining thorough, clear communication. As we are consistently working remotely, we need the constancy of communication across technology to illuminate difficulties and ensure goals. Effective communication means a two-way flow, in which individuals can be addressed on a personal basis where the need arises.
Managing a post-COVID-19 workforce is about the effective integration of new strategies in your business. Adaptable communication must allow for hybridized work environments. Workforce re-entry policies must maintain the safety and comfort of employees. Regardless of any world events, integrating this flexibility into your business practice allows you to manage unexpected circumstances.
Build new communication strategies with a focus on tech and remote work. Make a priority to reach your workers and let them feel heard. Remember, the key here is clear, two-way communication.
Here are communication strategies worth looking into for effective change management:
- Set clear expectations, ideally through a shared online platform to maintain clarity.
- Check in with staff daily.
- Determine communication preferences of your team to best reach each member.
- Maintain methods for staff to communicate casually regardless of location, thereby building culture and personal ties.
- Acknowledge anxieties and create a listening environment.
By focusing on team well-being and communication, you set up an environment in which change can be effectively managed, despite the current world events. To make this level of communication possible, however, you’ll likely need new tools.
Adopt New Tech
Change management can be difficult. Everyone struggles with integrating new processes, but with the right technology, change doesn’t have to be hard. By changing your approach to change management in order to offer the right planning, preparation, and support tools, you can help your team adjust to the new normal.
Start by finding the right communication tools for your team. Examine preferences and build a training process that will help your team adjust. Then be ready to be there or direct them to support whenever they need assistance with the new tools.
Here are some popular team communication solutions that can help your team adapt:
- Slack
- Google Hangouts
- Microsoft Teams
- Zoom
- Asana
- Basecamp
Plenty of platforms are out there, some free, some paid. To find the right fit for managing your business’s particular change process, prioritize ease of use and available support. In learning a new process, your team needs all the help they can get. Ensure they have it, empathize with their concerns, and always communicate clear expectations.
Prepare for a Successful Future
Through people-focused communication and the right tech tools, business leaders can bring their workers through a difficult time relatively unscathed.
When it comes to preparation for effective change management, there are four basic principles any manager should keep in mind. These are:
- Be empathetic to the way change affects your co-workers.
- Constantly, clearly communicate to your team why processes are changing.
- Plan to mitigate the fatigue and pushback change will bring.
- Constantly analyze and reassess your new processes for improvement.
Successfully integrating these principles into your approach to change management will help smooth the process. Change is inevitable. Effective management of that change regardless of the uncertainty of the times all comes down to being aware of people and the effectiveness of your policies. Because of this, communication is a central component of each of these principles.
Preparing for a successful future, even in uncertain times, takes an adaptable change management approach. Companies that avoid change management end up experiencing their own management change. Avoid this by planning for change management that encompasses two-way communication and useful tech tools to smooth the transition process.
