Tip of the Week: How to Get Employees to Go Along With Big Changes

As technology improves, it’s important that businesses that wish to stay competitive implement these advancements. Otherwise, they risk falling behind the curve where the ability to keep up with the demands of the market is concerned. However, many businesses may find that the biggest pushback against incorporating new tech comes from their existing employees.

This only makes sense, as human beings tend to be creatures of habit. There is quite a bit of stock placed in the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” philosophy, and so there isn’t much to initially incentivize a workforce to adjust their practiced behavior. Nevertheless, this is a crucial component to any internal improvement--after all, what’s the good in introducing a new process or solution with the potential to provide major benefits, if the employees who could take advantage of using it neglect to do so?

There are a few other reasons that lead to resistance to change as well. A particularly important one is tied to the aversion to any shifts in the company that many members of the organization may feel puts their job at risk.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment: if there were suddenly huge changes made to things that had been the way they were since you started work, is it really such a stretch to imagine that some personnel changes were on their way as well? Probably not, which means it is your responsibility to the company and its employees to introduce changes with tact and clarity.

Therefore, the first step to allow this goal to be reached is simply to open a clear and direct line of communication with any members of the organization who have reservations about how their jobs will be affected.

As you open and maintain these points of contact with your workforce, it is important that you truly listen to their concerns and accept the feedback they have to offer. Who knows, they may have discovered a shortcoming to the new solution that needs to be addressed, or perhaps one of them has devised a more effective method to leverage their resources to be more productive and efficient. Your employees are the ones who are on the front lines, and will likely have a few unique insights to offer. In short, your employees may be more willing to embrace a change if they know that their opinions will be considered.

You must also be sure that when you pitch the change, you focus on the right message. While the benefits to the business as a whole are very important and will have a noticeable impact upon everyone involved, it is better to initially focus on the benefits that will come to your users--the ones who will have to adapt to the change the most.

The real key to creating successful change is to communicate with your team throughout the process. Any and all resources will need to be kept in the loop in order for any change to be successful, but if they are, you can expect a much smoother transition.

Suffolk Computer Consultants is here to help you make these changes, in such a way that makes it as easy as possible for your employees as well. To find out what improvements your business could stand to see, give us a call at 631-905-9617.