Haris Ahmed | Chicago | When Change is Inevitable in the Workplace

Haris Ahmed Chicago Consultant on the Inevitability of Change

Haris Ahmed of Chicago-based Pragmatium Consulting, Inc. is an organizational change expert and management consultant. He has provided his professional expertise to countless organizations looking to enhance their performance, productivity, and profitability. In most instances, the leaders of the organization recognize the need for change. The problem is they might not know what needs to be changed, much less where to begin. In this post, he discusses the most common issues associated with organizational change, giving particular focus on the one component that feels the deepest effects of change: its people.

First of all, an exceptional organizational leader is a good decision-maker. A good leader does not dilly-dally when it comes to change. He either immediately works on the details with the rest of his team when change is inevitable, or he decides that a particular change being adopted by other similar businesses isn’t ideal for his organization at the moment. He also understands that implementing change in the workplace is a time-dependent strategy. He knows that jumping in too quickly without a solid strategic plan, backed by analysis and data, can jeopardize the entire organization and be costly for the business.

One of the main causes for resistance to change is the uncertainty of the future. Oftentimes, this resistance arises from employees who were surprised by an announcement that will have a huge impact on their place in the organization. Are they being replaced? Will some people be laid off? Anger, confusion, and loss of confidence and trust in their leader are the most common sentiments of employees. All of these could have been avoided, or at the very least, the blow lessened, had their organizational leader been open about the inevitable change from the very beginning.

For this, Haris Ahmed and his Chicago team recommend that leaders include their members in the discussion. One cannot expect to announce such a huge decision without inviting anger and frustration if the most affected people were kept in the dark.

Two things can happen here: either the employees will leave or they will stay but will deliver mediocre performance since they were made to feel that their inputs are not valued anyway. Loss of morale in the workplace is the surest and fastest way to encourage underperformance and disloyalty to the company. You can bet that as soon as a better opportunity comes along, employees will leave to go where they will be appreciated.

If change is inevitable in the workplace, then open communication is important. Be open about the change; why you’re adopting it, how it will benefit the employees first and the organization next, and more importantly, how it will affect the employees’ roles in the organization.

Change can be implemented effectively through constant, open communication. Communicate with your employees and give them the chance to embrace this change.

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