Embracing Change and Encouraging Compliance

The only thing that is constant is change.

That saying was coined by Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus more than 2 millennia ago, but it has yet to be disproven.

We are continuously in flux, and the professional elements of our lives are of no exception.

But if change is such a major, constant staple of human existence, why is it so difficult for us to cope with? One would assume that with so much experience adapting to constantly-evolving realities, humans would have become experts in accepting, handling, and managing change. However, it seems that we are for more adept at creating new innovative realities than we are adapting to them.

Organizations regularly struggle with driving their employees to comply with changes in regulation and process; they find it hard enough to have them adhere to existing ones. The fall of great organizations can almost always be traced back to their inability to adapt to change; be it internal or market-based.

If they hope to survive, Brands and companies must be willing to embrace change. Therefore, it is imperative they adopt proper methodology and tools which ensure that when the time is right – they will evolve as an organization.

Formed following more than two decades of intimate work with industry-leading organizations, The Inform, Engage, Acknowledge Model assists in accurately identifying the root-cause of change-initiatives failures. It then builds the foundations through which successful change can be achieved, given managers and employees rally around it.

Here is a breakdown of the model’s key components:

Inform

Employees are not mind-readers. They will have no chance to successfully embrace change if they are suddenly expected to alter behaviors and company direction and polices, without being given some form of reasoning behind it. Given that people are more likely to do what they care and are excited about, this common lacking in organizational culture is an Achilles heel for many companies. Far too often, companies do not do enough to publicize change. Either deeming it insignificant or too obvious, organizations do not spend resources building awareness regarding the expected shift process. Employees are left in the dark, after their managers and company leaders fail to explain the importance of this new development and how they are expected to act in light of it.

Spending the proper amount of resources and time is critical if these initiatives are to have any chance at succeeding.

A great example of an organization that approaches the issue of change in a savvy and successful way can be found in Google. Applying a training approach that entails getting all company employees involved, Google enlists peer-to-peer training as their standard method. Believing that its own employees are just as qualified as any instructors available, Google developed a system by which 80% of all tracked training is run through an employee-to-employee network called “g2g” (Googler-to-Googler). Employees participating in the g2g program do so voluntarily; those who choose to take part do so because they understand the importance of creating and fostering an environment of learning, and see great value in having all employees operating on the same page. Thanks to the program, Google employees, regardless of role and department, are acknowledged as integral and vital parts of the company.

Now, imagine that you could equip your company’s workforce with skills which would allow it to expertly adapt to unforeseen (but guaranteed-to-take-place) changes? What if managers could empower employees so that they can take the lead and impart new, relevant material to their peers, when the change eventually takes place?

Providing employees with background and an understanding as to why certain changes are important is a good place to start. This will keep everyone informed and lead naturally into the next phase of the framework.

Engage

Leaders and change-initiators are often excited about adopting change and understand its reasoning. But just as often, they disregard the need to convey and instill their enthusiasm in others. Transitions are much more likely to be successful when companies generate an initial buzz regarding the change-related initiative. Additionally, employees are far more likely to stay engaged with this undertaking during the alignment period. There is a myriad of ways in which companies can achieve this, ranging from simple internal launch-events, to rewarding employees for initial compliance or performance in related-KPIs.

Employee engagement at this stage is invaluable within every company department. Having a truly engaged workforce doesn’t merely boost sales figures; it has been shown to increase productivity by 31% and accurate task- execution by 19%. Employees are more motivated to be part of change, adaptation and innovation when they are engaged and excited about the impact it might have on their personal and team development. Employees also care deeply about the implications this change has on customers and business-results.

Acknowledge

People are often motivated to change or improve when they know there are consequences (whether negative or positive) to their actions. This is all the more true when an authority figure, be it a manager or mentor, is committed to following up with them regularly. In fact, the Association for Talent Development found that people are 65% more likely to meet a goal after committing to another person. When a superior checks in with him or her regularly, the goal-setter’ chances of success spike to 95% .

Therefore, it is clear that if your goal is to drive change successfully, an environment of learning, application and follow-up needs to be in place. You must create mechanisms for follow-up, with transparent rewards and consequences, and establish them as visible from the very beginning. Feedback is instrumental in regard to acknowledgement and follow-up, as employees work toward adoption and compliance.

Gartner shares employee performance bump-ups by as much as 14% when they have a good flow of feedback. When employees receive feedback, especially when it is instantaneous and in real-time, they can feel successful from the start. That way, they are able to adjust their behavior or approach as needed, embracing in full any new changes that come their way.

Conclusion

New process adoption and preferred process compliance don’t have to be issues your team has ongoing struggles with. Keep this framework in mind to help employees more-fully embrace changes that are certain to come their way:

As employees feel informed, engaged and acknowledged, adoption processes will become more simple and effective. That way, your team can spend less time getting used to change, and more time capitalizing on the new opportunities that often accompany it.

About Gameffective

Gameffective is an Employee-Centric Performance Management Platform – the “fitness tracker” for the Connected Workforce of the Future. Gameffective empowers employees to boost their work performance through hyper-personalised goals, real time tracking and data-driven feedback and coaching. Deployed with the world’s leading organizations Gameffective helps managers drive up employee value day by day. To find out how Gameffective can help transform your organization go to www.gameffective.com or book a live demo.