In a foggy economic environment, managers are all asking the same questions: how do we act? How can you prepare and involve your teams in the changes to come?
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Change: what's new in companies?
The post-pandemic economic recovery has been sluggish, and geopolitical conflicts have not improved delivery flows, a large number of company restructurings are planned over the next 12 to 18 months. Exposing the teams who work there to complex and probably painful changes. How can they cope with uncertainty and protect themselves from the future?
From a cyclical variable to a business operating mode
For as long as companies have been in business, changes have been aimed at maintaining their activity. Companies regularly review their operating methods, develop new projects, etc. For a long time, therefore, change was seen as a variable for adapting to the economic climate. For a long time, therefore, change has been seen as a variable of cyclical adaptation, and managers have been primarily interested in identifying the conditions under which it occurs and its various phases.
Today, change is an integral part of the way organisations operate. This new approach requires us to ask ourselves the following question: what are the key factors in change? ownership mechanisms and action of the players within the company?
The failure of the top-down approach to change to motivate a team
But more often than not, the approach to change is managerial and top-down, e.g. create a clear vision, change the organisation, implement the new system and get the staff on board. A Gartner study in October 2022 showed that 75 % of businesses adopt a top-down approach to changeThe aim is, of course, for teams to buy into the change(s). The aim, of course, is to get the teams on board with the change(s). But managing complex, structural change remains a challenge, and the failure rate is always high. What is needed to ensure that change happens more quickly, with less resistance and more innovative and sustainable results?
In this article, I'm not going to talk about transformation projects, prioritising change, organisational initiatives, communication tools or rolling out transformation projects. Because today, It's no longer a question of trying to "manage" change like you manage a budget, with the illusion that you can control it. I'm going to talk to you about mindset, listening and a sense of belonging.
Why is your state of mind about change important?
It is impossible to motivate a team with processes
It's hard to accept thata change cannot be "managed", it cannot be calculated and configured using XL processes and spreadsheets. It's hard to ignore risk management and anticipation tools - at least at this stage.
A burst pipe that damages warehouse stocks or an executive who is hospitalised after a car accident - it happens. That's where forecasts, calculations and settings come into their own. It's not enough for a company to have the right tools. Because they don't help us to take into account what a change does to us. They don't help us train ourselves to deal with chance and the unknown.
This is because our ability to cope with uncertainty depends on our ability to identify our emotions and act on our fears. The harmful effects of fear on decision-making have long been demonstrated. But we rarely take them into account, because we think it would be frowned upon, and the corporate culture pushes us to act. And that's how bad decisions get.
The relevance of the decisions you take when you make a change depends first and foremost on your state of mind
It's no longer a question of trying to predict the future. Looking for certainty and "the" answer prevents us from seeing that the field of possible solutions is vast. Trying to predict the future makes no sense, because there is no single future. There are in fact many possible futures, depending on the choices made by each person in the company, and how they are implemented. At any given moment, one of these potential futures could come true.
Preparing for these many possible futures, Suspend doing, taking action, setting up processes, is a delicate mission that opens the way to question your state of mind in the face of change :
- Does it generate as much hope as fear?
- Does this change motivate you personally?
- Are your hopes or fears the same as those you hear around you, among your peers or within your teams?
The question is not whether you are "for or against" change - that would be an outrageously simplistic alternative. Your expectations and attitude to change will evolve as you interact with those around you. Depending on your state of mind, your decision-making on change management will be radically different. Your state of mind guides your actions, not the other way round.
What are the levers for motivating a team to commit to change?
Imposing directive management or involving employees are the two extremes of a field of possibilities in which there are many forms of participation. The two fundamental levers your teams need to getting involved in changeBy listening to people and respecting their need to belong, we are naturally on the side of efficiency through involvement.
Motivating a team by listening
First of all, helping your team to develop and strengthen their mindset in the face of change is important for generating buy-in.
Now that you know how you feel about change, it will be easier to listen and ask questions to your teams to help them embrace the changes underway, while preserving team cohesion. Listening attentively and without judgement is a strong driver in the face of uncertainty, because it opens up a number of areas:
- a reduction in anxiety among the people listened to
- an ability to react less defensively
- greater awareness of each other's contradictions, and a greater ability to tolerate them
In times of change, teams that are listened to in real time are more open to different points of view, and cooperate more easily. Listening to teams rather than trying to convince themIt's about giving yourself the opportunity to communicate better, and to understand their emotions so that you can better prepare them for change based on shared values.
Motivating a team by meeting its need to belong
Another factor influencing team support for change is the need to belong to a group. That need that each of us feels when we're going through turbulent times.
It's about giving loyalty to the group, and being able to claim the group's identity in exchange. Any change threatens our sense of belonging, because it calls into question acquired loyalties.
That's why the most effective changes are made by paying attention to everyone's need to belong. This requires 2 simultaneous movements:
- Ensuring that teams feel comfortable actually involved. Beyond ready-made formulas, it's about making teams feel that their effective participation is necessary for change to work.
- Understanding that change requires developing the ability to let go of old loyalties (e.g. loyalty to working methods or team configurations, "that's how we do it"), so that new skills and new solutions can emerge, leading to greater cohesion.
Because a fixed sense of belonging will hamper the implementation of any change within the "system". companyand your managerial skills won't do a thing about it.
In conclusion, an effective review of how to deal with change and its uncertainties means first taking stock of yourself and clarifying your personal objectives, before acting for and with others. This will enable you to make new decisions in a much improved way. It will also give teams the opportunity to help build change in their day-to-day work.
