The process of change is a complex mechanism for building a new strategy and its practical application. As is typical of humans, people often feel threatened by change. Change can be interesting as well as challenging, as it encourages innovation and creativity. The question is, is it possible to promote change management without creating a heated environment? It is necessary to effectively manage changes and report them so that they are accepted, not rejected. This paper describes and states strategies for communication of changes.
One of the most vulnerable places that will have to be dealt with is the senior management team. They can stimulate the initiative of change, but they may not be so good at creating ideas in the field of information exchange that are understandable to all employees (Ricks, 2020). They may not even have a common schema for managing the change process. The responsibility will probably be to support key stakeholders and facilitate the effective exchange of information between employees at all levels.
Usually, at the beginning of any change initiatives, employees experience:
- Fear; for example, job loss or increased responsibility.
- Dissatisfaction; for example, with the process or lack of information, or even.
- Acceptance; for example, they recognize that change is necessary and inevitable.
To achieve the best result, the following strategies can be applied:
- Think strategically and explain the ideas; In order to build a trusting relationship, an assistant must be honest. It is necessary to back up words with actions, because a person is judged by the deeds (Ricks, 2020). The statements should emphasize the positive aspects and eliminate the negative ones.
- Listen; It is essential to be able to hear what people are thinking after any announced change. Use face-to-face meetings to solve sensitive issues and allow enough time to see reactions and answer questions.
- Get interested; There is a need to interact not only with the management team but also with the staff too. Interaction takes time and patience (Ricks, 2020), and the assistant has to start it from the very beginning of the change process.
- Address the right information to a specific audience; People are really good at hearing what they want to hear, and filter out information that they either do not want or are not ready to hear (Ricks, 2020). This makes the role of any assistant in internal communications difficult, especially during times of change.
Thus, CEOs and supervisors occupy a central position and a crucial role in the process of informing about changes.
Reference
Ricks, A. (2020). How to communicate organizational change: 4 Steps | HBS Online. Business Insights – Blog.