Keep your staff motivated & set up to succeed!
Your team is the backbone of your organization and a huge priority when it comes to communicating change. Making sure you have buy-in to your new plans from your staff is crucial to its success. According to Mckinsey, when your people are invested in the change you are introducing, your project is 30% more likely to see success (Mckinsey.com, 2015). Knowing that, it’s clear why communicating change to employees is extremely important.
There are additional reasons why a well-thought-out plan to communicate change makes a difference for your employees.
- It reduces anxiety and resistance by keeping your team in the loop before, during and after the change.
- It increases productivity by making expectations and roles in the change clear.
- It creates more frequent communication between you and your staff in general.
- Communicating change helps retain engaged and informed employees.
When it comes to the actual communication of these changes to employees, make sure you include these basic elements: sensitivity to any emotional impact it might cause, highlight the benefits that it will bring them, set expectations for regular check-ins on project progress, outline clearly what is expected of them and finally, give them the opportunity to share feedback.
Though your new process or project might require most of your attention, a key element of any good implementation is to not overlook the important step of communicating the change with employees. Your employees and your clients will be thankful that they are optimistic, empowered, and prepared to take this important step with you.