Real change can ultimately only happen when employees adopt new processes, practices, systems and models. But how can you keep your team motivated and combat employee change fatigue?

Here are our top tips on combatting employee change fatigue:

1. Clearly define outcomes 

Make sure your change initiatives have very clear and defined outcomes which you can describe easily. More than that, start your initiative by talking about the objectives and outcomes, not about what you’re going to go through to get there. 

2. Place a premium on people’s time

Plan your change programme in light of the capacity of the key people involved and affected. Don’t develop a timeline for the programme and then start assessing what needs to give to achieve it. 

3. Lead by example

If you don’t then employees will feel they are constantly told they need to adopt change, only for the leadership team to keep on doing what they always do, and for managers to maintain the same old routines. 

4. Implement a communications plan

 Communicate openly and honestly to your employees at every stage of the change process and remind them of the context about what is driving the change.  

5. Shift the language about change

The term ‘change’ classically means the end of one thing and the beginning of something new. Instead of defining the change by business objectives, explain the positive impact it will have on the purpose of the organisation and to your members, donors and supporters.  

6. Celebrate the small wins

 When leading change, small victories become big victories over time. Ensure you highlight even the smallest of successes, encouraging your employees to keep the good momentum going. 

7. Regularly check-in

Measure and monitor the change progress and team health on a regular basis and ask your team how they think the change is going. Find out if they are facing any challenges and what fixes they need.  

8. Follow through on promises

Setting and meeting expectations is a key aspect of successful change programmes, and that applies at every level. If you promise to review, do, act on, feedback on something, then make sure you do. You won’t always be able to give people everything they ask for, but you can try and you must explain why not where appropriate 

 

Download our 8 ways for combatting employee change fatigue infographic.