What can facemasks teach us about change management?
For those of us who regularly deliver complex change management programmes to organisations, the handling of Covid-19 by governments around the world is a constant catalyst to challenge and develop our thinking. Sometimes how to do it and sometimes how not to do it!
Like so many transformation programmes, we didn’t sign-up for this, the timing is not great, and there are so many disparate events that it is hard to keep sight of the big picture. Today, England has adopted a new law requiring us to wear facemasks when entering a shop, or other public environment. I’ll leave it to the medical professionals to argue whether facemasks reduce the spread of Coronavirus. I am more interested in the behavioural aspects of the new law.
Probably one of the most often repeated lessons about delivering successful change programmes in organisations is: bring the audience with you on the change journey. This is often summarised as change needs to be delivered with the end-users and not to the end-users. This means that the way the change is communicated needs to be inclusive so that people understand why the change is necessary, they understand the steps they need to take to adopt the change and they have a stake in making the change happen. Put another way, the people going through the change need to feel they can play a part to influence the outcome.
When organisations go through significant transformation the way that the employee-base contribute to the successful outcome is
First, leadership from the top. Making sure leaders are on side, championing the change and ensuring that all the elements are presented in a joined-up way.
Second, build awareness and understanding among the people impacted, this includes laying out the steps in the process and how they will be supported.
Thirdly, preparing for the change by sharing training content with the people impacted by the change, or user manuals. It might include a support network such as change champions, helpdesks or on-site support such as floor-walkers. But for the communication to be successful it needs to make the people impacted by the change part of that process. This might be through early adoption and knowledge sharing with colleagues; or advocating for the change in their team meetings or via on-line chat rooms like Yammer, or by sharing successes. The method of sharing is less important than the process of being part of the outcome.
That, in my view, is where the new law on facemasks (in England but not necessarily in the rest of the United Kingdom) comes in. We are now all part of the outcome of the eradication of Covid-19. By donning our masks, we are taking some responsibility. And then there are those kind souls who gently point out to others that they really need to wear their masks ‘for the good of others’. This is not a comment about the policing of the new law, it is more about those who become advocates for it. So, regardless of the medical efficacy of masks, the behavioural benefit is very clear and reinforces some golden truths about successful change management.
Brotzen Mayne advises global and national organisations on delivering successful engagement in support of transformation programmes. The company has recently launched Communicate the Change, an on-line self-paced training programme accredited by the CPD Service. You can find out how it can help anyone responsible for delivering change to ensure the communication makes the people impacted, feel part of the outcome.
#changemanagement, #communicatingchange, #stakeholderengagement