4 Concepts On Managing Change In The Workplace

Because if you’re honest about it, there’s not many things in life you have control over.

Hi there and welcome. It’s Kerstin Jatho here from 4Seeds Consulting, a transformational coach who shifts people from languishing to flourishing. In this video. I want to talk to you about the steps on managing change in the 21st century. In 535 BC, Heraclites an ancient Greek philosopher said, ‘everything flows, nothing stands still.’ The only constant in life is change.

We have so often heard a statement like that. That change is fluid, it happens all the time. The challenge with the statement is that our limbic brain, our reptilian brain, does not understand it. It has just not evolved enough to embrace this fluid, fast-moving, constant change.

So, we really grapple with it. So, if you look at an approach like the Kaizen approach, which originated from Japan and talks about incremental, but consistent steps, we should be managing change. However, we still don’t. And the reason is two-fold. The structure of change has changed. It has become different. It is become so fast-moving, as well as change is no more an additive. So, you can’t add onto it the whole time. It’s not a linear process. It is a vortex that takes us everywhere. So, the Kaizen approach no longer is applicable. And in the current organisational space, companies have to be exceptionally flexible and agile. Continuously being on their toes and things.

In the past, when you missed an opportunity, a company always had a bit of time to catch up and perhaps correct it. That time has gone. Now, if a company misses an opportunity, it could lead to their existential demise. It is honestly dog-eat-dog out there now. And being out there on who wins the race. And you have to be very, very adaptive to change.

Four steps for leaders to embrace this concept of change and really embracing its fluidity is by:

Step 1

Firstly, to create a better communication between the different generations within your organisation. It is no news that all the different generations have different communication styles. So, it’s helping them to communicate faster with each other, as well as effectively.

Step 2

The second one is really flatten your organisational structures. Remove as much as you can, the hierarchy and the red tape, because that slows down change a lot.

Step 3

The third one is allow people to work with their strengths. You do not have the time right now for people to work on skills that they are still developing or that they are mediocre at. You need people to work all the time on their strengths, being mindful that that energises them and comes naturally to them. So, it’s not so draining for them.

Step 4

The fourth one is allow your people to work on projects that are perhaps not part of their normal tasks or even in their job description. Perhaps not even in the same department. Allow them to do cross-structural discussions with other people. Perhaps there are projects that they are interested in in another department. Together, two minds can become very creative and that’s where change becomes very important. It happens very quickly and very fluid. Invite your people to be part of the change process. Encourage them every day to share their ideas and their thoughts. Give them the safe space to raise their voices and to share their input.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea or not. Always something comes out of it. Another idea, a new concept. Remember, we need to look at all opportunities here, and we really need to challenge our brains here, who are challenged with change. So, we have to trick it and be very agile. Change is not something to be scared of. It is something to invite and it’s very exhilarating and you learn the most if you embrace it.

So sometimes it’s free falling and don’t worry about having control over everything, because if you’re honest about it, there’s not many things in life you have control over.

Over to you for sharing your comments and experiences.

How well is your team coping with the ongoing change in your organisation?