Business
Managing change is a challenge for any leader. And helping your people through change is an essential attention area for (people) managers. But corporate change is a curious process: in spite of organizational change being thoroughly prepared, most change projects fail. “Lack of Communication” is often cited as the number one reason for big change projects to fail. I have asked all guests of this podcast so far to share their most important insights and tips for communication in times of change. Together with Els de Maeijer, we structured their insights into a few topics: The time delay effect: the leaders of the changes have been involved in designing it for a long time and fail to understand that when they start communicating the changes, it’s new for their people who need time to digest and adapt Explaining the change is not a one-time announcement, but ideally consists of a continuous dialogue Being stuck in one conversation style: while logic and ratio work for some, other people rely more on other communication styles Listening to your people in times of change: managers often use a strategy of “talking AT the group” rather than “talking WITH the people” The head vs. the heart: emotions play a role, and ignoring these because rational argumentation is preferred is not a good idea I like this quote by William Bridges: “Change comes more from managing the journey than from announcing the destination.” In this episode of Clarity in Conversations you will hear many practical tips for managing change in organizations.