Last week while waiting for a conference to begin, I was chatting with a few employees from various departments about the successes and challenges within their organization. As we continued the conversation, it became clear that the biggest challenge was the amount of change that was happening within the business and the lack of communication from their leaders. I believe that most employees know that in a world that is constantly changing the only thing that is certain is more change will occur. However, even though change is known, employees want and need leaders to be more connected with them on upcoming changes and any potential impacts to their departments.
In a recent survey conducted by McKinsey & Company, only 26% of transformation initiatives are successful. That is a rather low and alarming percentage when considering the cost associated with implementing change. As I continued to peel back the layers in the study, I found that companies that put together a transformation plan that included timely and transparent communication were more likely to succeed than an organization who did the bare minimum when communicating to their employees. For example, the survey suggested that companies where senior managers communicated openly and across the organization about the transformation’s progress, employees were more likely to report that the transformation initiative was successful. While there are many components that go into making a change successful, it’s clear that leaders should not short-change the process by not communicating to their employees. Additionally, there is a benefit in including employees earlier on in the process, they become ambassadors to the change initiative.
In closing, it goes without saying that leaders will always have to exercise caution when change is coming but including employees from all levels is a key component in implementing change. Our consultants are skilled at delivering robust solutions that will help ensure success when undergoing change.