Why Your Employees Crave (And Resist) Change

No organisation is perfect.
No organisation thinks it is.
Even if everything is going amazingly right now, there’s always room for improvement. To expand into new markets and dominate those.
Besides, the future isn’t more of the present. Trends are looming that will force you all to rethink everything.
This is some timeless writing here, because it’s always true. Change is the only constant.
Which means learning how to change as an organisation is an essential skill. Maybe even the most important.
But who teaches this skill? Does it earn more than a few passing remarks during leadership training?
If you don’t know how to create lasting change, you’re not alone. I could talk more about that, but consider these stories:
The first story came with a change of senior leadership. The new boss decided to scrap a successful and long running data analysis program within the organisation. They didn’t explain why (beyond some vague “it’s not fit for purpose”) and didn’t explain what would replace it.
They certainly didn’t consult with the people delivering it or those who used it.
The result?
Over the next nine months, the entire team responsible for that program left. One by one, they pulled up their stakes and looked for leaders who weren’t so destructive. An entire capability fell apart and the organisation had to scramble to fix it.
The second story is from an organisation’s learning and development section. Their new starter training wasn’t great. It accommodated only certain types of employees – which resulted in most sections not sending their staff to it. It was long and resource-intensive, yet didn’t equip new starters for their jobs.
Everyone knew this needed to change.
And the brighter the employee, the clearer they saw this.
Your best employees see the problems and probably have ideas on how to solve it.
In this case, change was easy. Management gave their employees the time and capacity to fix the training. After a few months, they unveiled the new training. Instead of months, it took days. Instead of being niche, it applied to everyone.
The organisation loved it.
In the first story, leaders forced change on the organisation and it broke things.
In the second, leaders invited change and it enhanced everything.
What’s the difference?
You could say the second story’s leaders empowered their staff.
Or they handed control over to the folk who knew the problem best.
While that’s all true, I’d go further than that.
With the second story, the leaders trusted their employees to get the job done.
With the first story, they didn’t. In turn, their employees stopped trusting them.
When your people don’t trust you, you can’t lead them. At best, you can bully and threaten them to do the bare minimum.
In today’s economy, getting the bare minimum out of people is a disaster.
With two-way trust between leaders and frontline employees, everyone is hungry and eager for change.
Without it?
Change is a burden imposed from clueless tyrants.

The best way to enhance your organisation is with the ultimate advantage: trust.
But how do you measure something like that, let alone improve it?
Especially if your workforce is stretched thin, cynical and burned out on change?
There are simple, effective and proven strategies you can begin implementing today. I know you can unlock the creativity, productivity and joy of your employees.
Learn how today with my free white paper and all the resources you need to launch your own trust-based change initiative:
https://battenandking.com/advantage

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