leadercommunicator blog

Change is hard for organizations, for employees asked to change, and for leaders responsible for guiding employees through the change. Each person must process their own feelings and work through the stages of change in their own way. However, leaders have an important role in the process.

As a leader, you not only must provide guidance and information to employees; it’s equally important that you listen to people’s concerns, show support, and serve as an anchor for them throughout the process.

Serving as the Change Navigator

Following are tips to remember as you help members of your team successfully navigate change:

Whatever your level or tenure in an organization, when you lead others, you’ll be the first person they’ll want to hear from in times of change. In addition to managing day-to-day priorities and motivating your team, you have an important role in explaining the vision and reasons for a change, giving employees line of sight to the organization’s strategy and helping them understand how the change will affect them.

The amount and type of communication needed will depend on the extent and timing of the change. Often there will be a high-level organizational announcement of what is changing and why, outlining plans and timing for key milestones in the process. The rollout of the plan typically involves sharing more information on what’s changing for specific teams, including training opportunities and details relevant to each role.

Help Build Understanding and Support for Change

As a leader you will likely receive updates before your team members and be looked to as a resource for them. Consider these ways you can help employees understand and support a change.

Much has been said about the stress and pressure that COVID-19 put on the workforce, including workers on the front-line and those who lost their jobs. But the human cost of the pandemic goes further—in the digital overload for those who work remotely.

Analysis of Microsoft Collaboration Tools Reveals Substantial Increase in Usage

The 2021 Microsoft Work Trend Index measured the impact of the pandemic for 30,000 full-time workers from 31 markets: 54% said they feel overworked and 39% feel exhausted. The story becomes even more vivid in the analysis of data from Microsoft 365 collaboration tools:

If someone were to approach an employee at your company—no matter their role or physical location—would they be able to explain the company strategy? All too often, that answer is no, but it doesn’t have to be.

Just as Uber plots your route the moment you request a ride so that you and the driver both know where you’re headed and how to get there, businesses also need a set destination and clearly defined path for getting there. Yet often, that plan is locked away inside leaders’ heads, so the rest of the organization doesn’t know when the next turn is coming, how long the trip will take, and, most importantly, what they need to do as individuals and teams to make the journey a success.

The Importance of Codifying Your Business Strategy

The “big quit” continues to accelerate in the U.S., with another 4.4 million workers reported to have resigned from their jobs in September, bringing the total to more than 24 million since April 2021. This historic departure of workers isn’t expected to abate any time soon—a recent McKinsey & Company survey found that 40% of employees are at least somewhat likely to leave their employer in the next three to six months. Perhaps even more telling, it identified a disconnect between employers’ perceptions and the actual reasons why employees are leaving.

What is most important to employees? Being valued by their manager and organization; a sense of belonging, and yes, work-life balance. The study showed employees were more likely to prioritize these and other relational factors of work life, including caring and trusting teammates and potential for advancement, while employers looked more at the transactional aspects such as workload and compensation.

As organizations plan for the post-COVID workplace, many are considering a hybrid approach with good reason: It’s what employees want. Of more than 30,000 workers surveyed in the Microsoft 2021 Work Trend Index, 73% wanted flexible remote work options to continue and 67% wanted more in-person time with their teams.

Perhaps to help their employees enjoy the best of both worlds, two-thirds of business decisionmakers are considering redesigning physical spaces to accommodate hybrid work environments. Yet while more collaboration space, better videoconference technology and “hotel” desk space may be useful when employees are on site, that’s only part of the picture. To be successful with a hybrid work environment long term, it’s important to be conscientious about the employee experience all day, every day.

Moving to Hybrid Spaces

Here are eight best practices to think about when moving to hybrid work:

It's that time of year again – the holidays are fast approaching and as many of you know, the season kicks off with my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving. While one of the many reasons I look forward to Thanksgiving is because it’s the season of Grandma Elsie’s Famous Pumpkin Chiffon Pie and other crowd-favorite recipes, Thanksgiving is special for other reasons.

We’ve had a couple tough years. And during times of challenge, it's not always easy to consider what we have to be thankful for.

Last week marked the 25th anniversary of my father’s death from pancreatic cancer. The picture is of my dad and me at my Bar Mitzvah.

He spent his last few days in a wonderful hospice – St. Mary’s Hospice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dad was heavily sedated and not very lucid in his last few days, but I still talked to him as if he could hear me.

I believed he could hear me; upon reflection, I think that was one of the ways I was dealing with his imminent death.

I’ll always remember the day the Rabbi came to visit.