Quoting Alan W. Watts: "The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. So let's dance! 💃 🕺🏽"
Successful change relies on five key components. When any of these components is missing, confusion, anxiety, resistance, frustration, or repetition can set in, leading to emotional opposition from your staff.
5 main components necessary for successful change:
Involving your staff throughout the entire change process, offering insights, and making them feel part of the decision-making, helps create a sense of belonging and emotional acceptance towards the change.
Preparing your business and employees for a new change can be a bit unsettling. We've compiled our best practices to guide you in managing change, utilizing these five components when implementing Zendesk on a broader scale or making operational changes within your business.
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Vision
- The direction you aim to move towards or the overarching goal you wish to achieve with the change.
- Without vision or direction - confusion presents itself.
The vision encapsulates what you intend to change—whether you're implementing the Zendesk platform as a whole, deactivating an existing feature, introducing new functionality, or simply altering the way an existing feature or workflow operates.
Skills
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Identify the skills necessary for both the implementation of the change and for agents to effectively use the new features.
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Lack of the required skills can give rise to anxiety.
Consider two key aspects in preparing for the necessary skills:
- Ensure that the person tasked with implementing the change possesses the requisite skills.
- Identify whether agents need additional training to operate the new features, specifying the required training.
Incentive
- The fundamental question everyone asks: WHY are we making this change?
- Resistance tends to emerge without clear incentives or reasons to proceed.
At this stage, it's crucial to ensure your team comprehends the reasons behind the change and provide them with the opportunity to share any feedback they may have regarding the transformation.
Resource
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Lack of resources (capital or support) often leads to frustration.
As we approach the finish line in implementing the change, it's crucial to ensure all necessary resources are available to the team. This may involve:
- Providing written or video documentation on how to utilize the change.
- Assigning a point of contact for team members to reach out regarding the change.
- Conducting training sessions for team members on how to effectively use the change.
Action Plan
- Lacking an action plan can feel like repeating the same steps without achieving results—the Treadmill side effect.
In the final step, it's crucial to inform the team about WHEN the change will be implemented, allowing them to prepare for the big day. Communication channels may include:
- Internal company newsletter or email announcement
- External company newsletter or email announcement
- Announcement on Slack, MS Teams, or any other communication tool used by the company.
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To conclude, proactively preparing your team for organizational changes is not just a strategic move—it's an essential ingredient for success in today's dynamic business landscape. As the famous saying goes, "Change isn't coming, it's already here!" Acknowledging and embracing this reality enables teams to navigate transitions with resilience and adaptability.
By fostering clear communication, aligning visions, providing necessary skills, offering incentives, ensuring resource availability, and establishing a well-thought-out action plan, organizations empower their teams to not only weather change but also thrive amidst it. This proactive approach not only minimizes resistance and anxiety but cultivates a culture of continuous improvement, laying the foundation for sustained growth and success.