Bay of Plenty Business News July/August 2017

BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS July/August 2017 25
Leading change in the workplace
Co-founder and chief coach of Firestation,
the Bay’s only business growth centre, with
a range of business coaching and training
programmes to help you succeed. To find
out more go to www.thefirestation.nz or
email grow@thefirestation.nz
To be successful, organisations
and people need to
have the ability to change.
The way we work and the systems
we use are continually
evolving. It’s predicted that
most businesses will change
more in the next three years
than they have in the last five.
It is essential that leaders and
managers know how to engage
staff to implement change.
The prospect of change can
be daunting for many. Humans
by nature are creatures of habit.
Regardless of whether the
changes are big or small, management
of change needs to be
carefully planned.
But the sad truth is that
many businesses do not implement
change well. Forty years
of research by leadership and
change guru Dr John Kotter
has shown that more than 70
percent of all major transformation
efforts fail. Why? Because
organisations do not take a
consistent, holistic approach to
changing themselves, nor do
they engage their workforces
effectively.
Regardless of whether you
want to implement new systems,
policies and brand, or
change reporting lines, roles
and responsibilities, your
approach to change should be
the same.
Let’s be honest, it isn’t easy
to lead or participate in change.
But there are many things
leaders can do to manage the
impact, how change is accepted
and whether it’s successful. It’s
important to cover three essential
steps:
1. Create a climate for
change. Increase the urgency
for change, build the right
team to lead the transition
and get the vision right.
2. Engage the whole organisation.You
need to communicate
for buy-in, empower
action and create short-term
wins.
3. Implement and sustain
change. Don’t let up, make
the changes stick.
At the heart of successful
change is clear and consistent
communication.The biggest
challenge to executing change
successfully is getting people to
change their behaviour.
People will more likely
change behaviour when given
a compelling reason that influences
their feelings, rather
than numbers and statistics.
It’s important that your leaders
clearly express what the change
is, why it’s being made and how
it will affect each team member.
Don’t assume you know all
the answers to how the change
will affect your staff. Ask them
and actively listen. Don’t shy
away from the reasons not to
change – they may become
more important than the reasons
to proceed.
Identify the people who are
most affected by the change
as well as those individuals
who can champion the change.
These two groups will play
a key role in helping whole
organisations accept the changes.
Think about whether reward
systems, such as bonuses, rec-
ognition or scorecards, would
be appropriate and how they
could support the acceptance of
the changes.
Ultimately you need to
GROWING YOUR BUSINESS
> BY DARREN MCGARVIE
Darren McGarvie is co-founder and Chief Coach of the
Firestation, the Bay’s only business growth centre. To find out
more go to www.thefirestation.nz or email grow@thefirestation.nz
make sure that the change is
not an option. Remember people
often don't want to change,
and if given a choice they often
won't. Everyone from the business
owner or board and management
must commit passionately
to the change, and they
should accept nothing less from
everyone else.