According to The Harvard Business Review, studies on organizational change show that if you want to lead a successful transformation, communicating empathetically is critical. However, most leaders do not actually know how to do it. In fact, a survey of over 200 leading company executives found that 69% of respondents said that they were planning to launch or are currently conducting a change effort. Unfortunately, 50% of these same executives said they had not fully considered their team’s sentiment about the change.
Here are a few steps a leader must take to smoothen a transition:
Profile your audience at every stage. Change consultants typically advise leaders to create personas of various audiences when they kick-off a change initiative. Considering that people’s wants and needs will evolve throughout the process, managers should reevaluate these personas during every phase of the journey.
Tell people what to expect. While you may need to keep some facts private during a transition, the general rule is that the more informed your people are, the more they’ll be able to deal with discomfort.
Involve individuals at all levels. A transformation won’t succeed without broad involvement. Incorporating ideas about how a change would affect every member of an organization and their unique responsibilities helps every impacted individual understand their part.