Organisational change, restructuring, transformation, re-organisation, right-sizing, call it what you want, it’s become the new normal in our world of work.
Sadly, most of the time, the organisational change process doesn’t take enough consideration to basic humans needs and it provokes huge amounts of anxiety. Anxiety which of course no one can talk about, because we’re all taught to think work is just work.
However, organisational change is anxiety-provoking because there is a lot of unknown. And because work is so much more than just work.
When people get anxious they are no longer at their best. Sleep, productivity, energy, their loyalty to the organisation, their inspiration-levels etc. are all affected negatively.
But there is something you can do.
As a leader you can help lower the organisational anxiety. This is not about pretending all is fine and putting on rosy-eyed glasses. We are talking about a human-friendly approach to leadership and telling people lies that’s not human-friendly.
3 ways to lower anxiety in your organisation during a change/re-organisation process:
- The tube analogy – we have stopped at a red light. (Seriously listen to this episode if you want to understand this one. This is the method to use when there is lots of confidential information that you can’t share, but not sharing doesn’t seem like a good option either. In the absence of you managing the story people will make up their own stories.)
- Ground people in the why. Help people remember what the purpose of all the change is and share the purpose in a way that makes sense. Communicate it frequently.
- Calm your own energy. Ground yourself. Particularly when you think, you don’t have time to do so. How you show up matters. There is an important question you must ask yourself (listen to the episode for the exact question).
And if you’re interested in organisational change you might also find the Organisational Change Hangover Cure useful. Get it for free here https://noominatan.com/hangover/
For more information about Noomi Melchior Natan and Leadership Behind the Scenes go to www.noominatan.com
