Simplicity confounds people who want to make change complex.
ID HOTELIER - Change is a continuous and necessary part of the landscape for organizations to remain relevant just likes bees and flowers are to nature. However, it doesn’t need to be overly complicated. Here are 4 tips that can simplify change initiatives and nurture success to accomplish your intended goals.
Infuse Scents and Colors
Flowers attract bees with their color and scent. So, let’s equate bees, scent and color in nature to people, revenue and rewards in business. When you ask your organization, team, or individuals to change the way they do their job to align with a new strategy, it is important to make the change attractive, and to build desire in those that can make it happen.
Communicate ‘why’ the change is necessary and how it aligns with the overall company strategy. Highlight what advantages the change brings to both the organization and to the individual, the ‘What’s In It For Me’ by way of improvements and benefits (aka the scent and color). Illustrate what success looks like. It could be development, growth and revenue (aka the nectar). Then provoke faster change adoption by aligning individual and team goals to the company’s business objectives.
Prune for New Growth
When you tend to your garden, you prune shrubs and flowers by snipping lifeless leaves, branches and flowers, as they drain valuable resources from the plant. This same activity can apply to business. Prune what is draining the system with your technology, processes and capabilities, through incremental changes that are palatable. Targeted actions help you to redirect energy and focus on new growth. It communicates to your company (the garden) to grow more flowers. This makes your change initiative more effective and keeps your organization healthy.
Provide Food and Water
Plants require food and water. In an organization, if the change initiative requires people to learn something new, then provide the people with food like training, development, coaching and mentoring to help them get to where you want them to go. When you ask your organization, team or individuals to adopt change, first model the change. Teach and mentor versus mandating the change. This way you spark interest, curiosity, and ultimately buy-in which is more sustainable.
Organizations are usually thirsty for communication, especially in times of change. Allow the water to flow by understanding and effectively utilizing your informal network to remove communication barriers. This encourages more direct communication and access between people across the organization, which is the foundation for agility, collaboration and building trust.
Let the Sunshine In
Remove the rainclouds that hover over change initiatives with descriptors like transformation or journey. It sounds too long and arduous. Change is a constant in business, just like rain and sun is in nature.
Embrace change like you would sunshine on a cloudy day, allow it to create enthusiasm in your organization to help your business thrive.
About Writer
Becky Vinton - talent strategist with over 20 years' experience improving the effectiveness of organizations and enhancing employee experience as a global human resources leader and business consultant. She holds an MBA Degree and several certifications including Human Capital Strategist by the Human Capital Institute.
Great article...