Change is difficult for most people.
Unfortunately, for many people, we are entering the 4th quarter, which often brings organizational change(s).
Why 4th quarter you ask?
Leaders are fresh off of planning meetings where they’ve spent a few days looking at strengths of the business they want to leverage, weaknesses they want to address, opportunities they want to capture, and threats to the business they want to eliminate.
Their plans may involve changes to improve their competitive position. This can involve several strategies for success, including one the most dreaded changes of them all, a reorganization.
In a typical reorganization, some people may lose their jobs, some may be uncertain of their future, some may have a new boss to report to, some may have different responsibilities, some may have greater workload, and some may be impacted by a change in overall morale and company culture change.
Shifting strategies is not uncommon for companies. Sometimes it’s a minor tweak and sometimes it’s a major shift. Regardless of the change, leaders must be careful to communicate and achieve organizational buy-in to experience successful implementation of the change.
I bring this up because of this recent article about how the CEO of Citigroup, Jane Fraser, is implementing a sweeping reorganization for Citigroup. In her words, “the case for change is pretty clear – our people want to succeed, and our highest performers got behind this very quickly. We don’t have room for bystanders, we don’t have room for people who want to stand on the sidelines.”
Leadership Tip
Do not fear change, however, do fear ineffective change implementation.
In my personal experience of many minor and significant organizational changes, I can offer you the following three core ingredients of effective change implementation:
Clear, Consistent and Timely Communication – have a consistent message, repeat it frequently in multiple different ways to ensure your employees and customers understand why, what, when and the next step(s). This must cascade seamlessly through the various levels of management. Over communication is only a problem if the message is inconsistent.
Get Employee Input – where it is practical and appropriate, get selected feedback from small groups of key employees. Seek their input, learn their concerns, determine the issues you’re not addressing, determine who the advocates for change are. They may be able to help you champion the implementation.
Fairness and Respect – there may be difficult decisions related to people being made. To preserve the dignity of these employees, always treat them the way you would want to be treated. Those remaining in the organization will remember how their departed co-workers were treated.
Whether you state, “there is no room for bystanders”, or “the train is leaving the station, so you better get on board”, or a different mantra, my final piece of advice for you on moving forward with change is “be sure you know what you’re doing” – your leadership credibility is on the line.
