How Leaders Can Help Welcome Change

Let’s us admit it. For an experience executive, it’s not at all surprising to admit that his/her staff

hates change in the workplace. Many people are not comfortable with frequent change- be it

professional or personal. Competing commitments are aren’t distressing only to the boss, they

are frustrating to employees as well.( Kegan and Lahey, C, 2011, pp 4).

Every change in some way makes the employee go out of their daily comfort level even though

they realize that such change would be betterment for their job. However they typical response is

often negative. The better he staff is prepared to accept dealing with the changes, the more

productive they will become.

It is imperative to move the vision into a plan and plan to follow forgiveness when there is an

issue with the timelines.

Gather information about and determine ways to communicate the reasons for the changes.

These may include the changing economic environment, customer needs and expectations,

vendor capabilities, government regulations, population demographics, financial considerations,

resource availability and company direction. Assess each potential impact to organization

processes, systems, customers and staff. Assess the risks and have a specific improvement or

mitigation plan developed for each risk. Plan the communication of the change. People have to

understand the context, the reasons for the change, the plan and the organization’s clear

expectations for their changed roles and responsibilities. Nothing communicates expectations

better than improved measurements and rewards and recognition.( Heathfield, 2010).

Before I begin talking about what are the ways by which leaders can help their employees

welcome change, it’s important that I talk about the qualities of people who flourish on change.

People who have self-confidence can easily accept a welcoming change at the workplace. Self-

confidence often comes in people who love to take challenge, they are competitive and look

forward towards changes. People who are adaptable don’t resist or get discouraged with a

change,