Not Preparing Others Holds You Back

I recently had lunch with a colleague whose business provides software and technology solutions to small and mid-sized companies. His products and services help those businesses organize and streamline their transactional HR activities and reduce the labor-intensive paper processes that most all organizations grow up with — a key move for companies that want to advance.

Successfully and efficiently transitioning to such new technology tools is more involved than purchasing and installing the technology however. After all, a new tool is still just a tool. Those who will use the new tool, those whose jobs and work processes will be directly affected by it and the supervisors and managers of those individuals all need to be prepared for what will happen next. And in our experience each member of these work teams has something to contribute to a successful transition.

While this may sound so logical that it doesn't merit comment, in reality the level of preparation, communication, input, involvement and training necessary for such implementations rarely exists. Because of this, success and a positive return on investment are difficult to achieve. Additionally, if managers and supervisors are not trained in how to lead their teams through the change they are experiencing, including coaching during day-to-day activities for buy-in and early adoption, failure or at least lost productivity, cost overruns and delayed utilization should be expected.

Managing and supervising work and work teams is different from managing and leading those same teams through change. Being a subject matter expert, a top technician or performer in a particular expertise or function (often the basis for promotion to supervisory roles) does not prepare you to effectively manage others let alone be effective in leading them through change.

Businesses are required to adapt, adjust and address new pressures and competitive issues everyday. Technology advancements are only one example, although easy to understand. But since organizations are made up of many different formal and informal systems — relationships between people and work flows and processes, different work groups and functional areas, vendors and the all important customer — any change affecting one can have a rippling affect on the rest and must be anticipated and planned for.

We are experiencing, as you are, constant change that continues to accelerate, and there is no turning back or settling down. This calls for a much more conscious acceptance and preparation for leading and managing through change. It inspires developing business cultures that anticipate, embrace and thrive on change or are at least "change ready." If change is the "new constant" then only those who learn to prepare and process it well will be successful.

Recently we published results from more than six months of research into the root causes of failure in large-scale change implementations. The findings and prescriptions for increased success, while specifically relating to change projects, are just as applicable to many other organizational challenges from technology introductions to M & A activity, new product launches or service changes — and more.

The real insights from the study cast light on developing those aspects of individuals, organizations and cultures that make companies excellent in the first place, and lead to improvements in how work is done and service is provided - but they depend on ensuring that you and others are prepared.

(A free PDF of this research study report, Merit's Engage-to-Change®, is available for download by clicking here.)

When it comes to change and the future, if you have not prepared yourself and others to be change ready you will be holding your company back while other businesses will move ahead. Not a formula for competitive advantage in a world that is changing so rapidly.

If you have questions about this article or after reading the free report Engage-to-Change® we would like to hear from you.

If you are responsible for HR in your company and need temporary backfills for key HR professionals within your organization whose involvement in a change project is critical — contact us we can help you with that.

Best Regards,

Rod