Navigating company-wide changes can be overwhelming and filled with uncertainty for both executives and their employees. However, those changes are often essential for company success and growth. As executives lead company-wide changes, there are numerous reassurances they can offer their employees to ease the transition. Here are common needs employees have for executives leading enterprise changes.
Employees Need to See Visibility and Intention
Employees need to see executive leadership leading and facilitating proactive, intentional, and coordinated change efforts. If executives only speak during Town Halls or All Hands meetings regarding upcoming changes, only to disappear during day-to-day implementation, employees will not feel the sense of urgency and reality of those changes.
Employees Need Executive Leadership to Provide a Clear Vision
Even though leaders may not have a clear picture of upcoming changes and transformations at the beginning of the process, they still need to have a specific, clear, and urgent vision of “why” the company and employees need to change.
Employees Need Consistent Messaging
Inconsistent and unaligned messaging will kill the momentum of any changes. When there are gaps in messaging, human nature causes employees to fill those gaps with their own concerns and fears.
Employees Need Accountability Across the Board
Every division, department, and function needs to be held accountable. Too many employees will try to say these changes won’t really impact them, even though it impacts everyone.
Employees Need Absolute Alignment with the Executive Team
When employees see their leaders contradicting and undermining each other, they won’t believe change is possible.
Employees Need a Sense of Urgency by Leaders
The so-called “burning platform” may not be easy to convey to some older, established companies that have done well for many years and therefore see no reason to change from their comfortable work role. They need to feel a level of discomfort to know that if changes aren’t made, they will be impacted much worse than not engaging in those changes.
Employees Need to See the Benefits (WIIFM) For Them
Employees will have trouble feeling truly engaged with changes until they see how it can benefit them personally (eventually), no matter how much leaders express that change is needed for the organization.
Employees Need Two-Way Communication
Employees will need to have a say in the changes and how they are implemented. Otherwise, they won’t be engaged and will resist changes that come down from the ivory tower. They need to provide ideas, input, feedback, and even vent sometimes. Change is hard.
Employees Need Support from Executive Leaders
Executives can’t just tell employees what they want to change. They must also provide employees with strong messaging, support, tools, education, and resources to be able to implement the desired changes.
Notes For Executives Leading Enterprise Changes
By remaining aware of these needs, executives leading enterprise changes can help their employees smoothly navigate company-wide changes and be prepared to overcome challenges with ease.