If there’s one thing the last few years have taught us, it’s that change is unavoidable in today’s workplace. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as a global pandemic – it could be something as commonplace as getting a new manager, switching to a new process or adapting working patterns to accommodate work-life balance.
Change management often used to be considered a one-off project – something big would change, and business leaders would need to guide employees through that change. Job done. Well, not anymore. In the modern workplace, change is constant, it’s relentless, and that’s never going to stop.
Below, we’re going to dig into the importance of change management at work, what good change management looks like and how you can spot those skills in the workplace, with absolutely no self-reporting required.
Change management sounds like it should be self-explanatory (‘managing change’, surely?), but there’s a little more to it than you might think.
Change management is all about helping individuals, teams and the wider organisation transition from the current state to a future state, whether that’s something relatively small or something transformational. This could be anything from a restructure to a new software rollout to a switch from in-office to remote work.
The skills needed for change management encompass everything from communication to empathy to adaptability. Humans are naturally resistant to change, and change can be particularly hard for neurodivergent employees, so leaders must be able to understand the concerns of their employees and guide them through change with strong, trustworthy leadership.
For any employee experiencing change at work, there’s a vast difference between a manager with strong change management skills and one without.
A manager with solid change management skills makes change feel manageable, and potentially even enjoyable! They do this by:
Of course, great change management isn’t just limited to business leaders. Everyone can benefit from improving their change management skills. It’s a marathon, not a sprint – soft skills like change management should be improved gradually over time to ensure that your new habits and behaviours stick.
Some of the ways to improve your change management skills include:
Uncertainty can make a lot of people nervous, which can be almost paralysing in a business setting. Instead of fearing change, accept that it’s going to happen whether you like it or not, and adopt a more curious, open approach around change initiatives at work. Embracing a growth mindset (another of Helix’s Core 9 skills!) will also help you take change in your stride. If you’re really struggling, feel free to raise your concerns with your manager or your colleagues – it’s likely they can reassure you and help you understand why things are changing and how that decision was reached.
A key reason so many people struggle with change is that they don’t communicate effectively. If you’re leading a change programme, communicate early and often with everyone involved. You don’t need to have all the answers, but keeping those communication channels open is vital to ensure everyone is on board. Focusing on the bigger picture and adopting storytelling to build an enticing, inspiring narrative will also help you get the rest of the team aligned around the change, and active listening ensures your more anxious people will feel heard and understood when they share their concerns with you.
If we’re honest, not all business change feels positive for the people involved, such as restructuring or changes to working patterns, all of which can create a lot of anxiety. A good leader won’t just carry on as if everything is fine – they’ll tap into their empathy and self-awareness to recognise and respond to others’ reactions. Not everyone will feel comfortable proactively speaking up against unpopular changes, so pay particular attention to quieter members of the team, who may be struggling without you knowing.
Business change often involves multiple stakeholders, and knowing how to communicate with them is key to successful change management. Mapping out the key players in each major change initiative will help you tailor the right messages to the right audiences (for instance, your HR team will have very different priorities to your sales team). Building trusted relationships before you need them is also a good way to build important ‘social capital’ and ensure you’re in the strongest position to put your point across when it’s time for the next change.
Change will always be a challenge in the workplace, but with the right change management skills, it should get easier every time you go through it. Asking for feedback from those affected should be a standard part of each change initiative, and documenting lessons learned (and how you can improve the process next time) will ensure that every change is a learning opportunity, not a cause for unnecessary stress and anxiety.
Identifying change management skills isn’t easy. Usually it’s anecdotal or a subjective observation. An employee can often say if Manager X is better at managing change than Manager Y, but they can’t necessarily identify exactly why that is.
Enter Helix. Helix is 5app’s new AI skills intelligence platform, which identifies soft skills like change management in the flow of work – no assessments, quizzes or biased peer reviews needed.
People often don’t recognise their own capabilities, especially when it comes to soft skills, so Helix helps surface these skills in real time. For instance, it can pick up on the way a manager influences others, leads through ambiguity or handles the concerns of their employees through the way they communicate in meetings, ensuring everyone has a good understanding of their ability to manage change.
On top of identifying and monitoring skills, Helix goes one step further by recommending content to help someone further improve their change management skills, whether that’s an elearning module, an ebook or a personalised AI coaching activity. This keeps people developing their soft skills through data-driven interventions, as it tackles the precise elements of each skill that need work, without wasting time focusing on the basics.