Helping Your Team Navigate Changes

Leading Through Change

Change will not only impact you. Your team will be impacted by changes in their lives and in your organization.

Are you prepared to help navigate them through the changes they will face? You better.

Man holding a compass

Photo by Tim Graf

As a leader, you have a responsibility to help them through the changes they will face. They are looking to you for guidance. They are looking to you for assurance things will be okay.

You get to be the strong one. You get to be the one who helps your team navigate change.

But how do you help your team navigate change? What can be done to make change easier on your team?

Great question! Let’s take a look at what you can do to help your team deal with change.

Helping Your Team Navigate Changes

You have a responsibility to your team to help them get through change. They will struggle without your guidance and assistance.

You have this responsibility because you’re the one who parses out information. They will look to you to know whether or not they’re safe. Help them know they are safe.

1. Reassure your team:

I worked in an organization where nothing was ever certain. There was mass chaos and no one knew if locks were going to be placed on the doors.

This was a scary time. Many people left.

Why? Because no one was being reassured that the changes that were happening were good. All people saw were the troubled signs of a failing company.

This company could have done something to help their team members with change. The team members longed for reassurance. They wanted to be told things would be okay and here was the plan.

They didn’t get this.

You can help your team feel more secure during change by reassuring them.

2. Communicate changes:

The other thing that happened at a previous employer of mine was a lack of communication. Team members had no idea what was happening.

Outside consultants were brought in. Leadership never introduced them to the team. Leadership never let their teams know how to deal with the consultants.

This left the teams in fear. Were the consultants there to fire team members? Was the business being sold or taken back by the bank?

If changes are happening, your team members are probably scared. You can alleviate many of these fears by communicating the changes that are happening. You can share what you can and tell them you will communicate other changes as they come your way.

You can never communicate enough… especially when change is happening. Communicate, communicate, communicate.

3. Invite people into the change process:

Many of my coworkers freaked out because they weren’t involved with the changes that were happening. Everyone felt like they were on the sidelines with no coach.

Had team members been invited into the change process, there would have been a sense of belonging. They would have seen how the change process was going to help the organization become better.

None of this was done. Because of that, the team suffered through the change.

When change is coming, invite your teams into the process. Help them to understand what is going on, why change is coming, and what you’re doing to help them get through the change.

Change is a scary thing for you. It’s even scarier for your team members. You can change this. You must change them.

Help guide them through the guide. Be there for them. Communicate with them. Invite them into the change process.

Doing this will help them. It will help your organization. And it will help you.

Question: How do you help your team members navigate change? Share your strategies in the comments below.

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