Training Staff to Cope With Change

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Training Staff to Cope With Change
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Quotes

• There is nothing more difficult to take in hand,
  more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in
  its success, than to take the lead in the
  introduction of a new order of things.
• Niccolo Machiavelli

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Quotes

• No organization can depend on genius the supply
  is always scarce and unreliable. It is the test
  of an organization to make ordinary human beings
  perform better than they seem capable of, to
  bring out whatever strength there is in its
  members, and to use each one's strength to help
  all the others perform. The purpose of an
  organization is to enable common people to do
  uncommon things.
• Peter Druker

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Quotes

• You can only go halfway into the darkest forest
  then you are coming out the other side.
• Chinese proverb

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Change

• The three quotes highlight the importance of
  change in our lives.
• For business, change is something that is
  ever-present.
• No business or business environment ever stands
  still.
• It follows from this that every business has to
  cope with change.

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Training

• At the front line of most change in business will
  be humans.
• The workforce will be the ones who have to adapt
  to new situations and to the effects of changes
  inside and outside the business.
• Making sure that they are suitably trained to be
  able to cope with these changes is an important
  part of the leadership and management process.

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The Nature of Change

• Change is a curious thing - we might think of
  it as having the following characteristics
• Change is linear - it proceeds through a series
  of set stages
• Change is predictable - we know something of how
  things are going to change
• In knowing how things change, we can put in place
  plans to manage change
• Leaders and managers have some control over
  change
• Most external change factors are outside of the
  organization's control
• Most uncontrollable changes are largely
  exceptional

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About Change Itself

• In reality, it is likely that change is none of
  these things.
• Change can happen anywhere, anytime and come from
  any angle.
• It is certainly not linear or predictable.
• For example, a key worker in a small business
  could have an accident on the way to work,
  involving a key worker, meaning they will be off
  work for six months.

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Planning

• Planning ahead may be one way to anticipate
  change - but anticipating change is as far as it
  can go.

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Forms of Change

• The following provides some ideas about the types
  of change that can confront any business. Of
  course, these changes do not just come singly
  they might come two and three at a time. The
  business has to be able to cope with them.
• New technology.
• New production methods (outsourcing).
• Mergers or takeovers.
• External economic factors - economic growth,
  changes in interest rates etc.

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More Forms of Change

• Legislation - health and safety, Disability
  Discrimination Act and so on.
• New methods of motivation or managing of human
  resources, for example, appraisal.
• New markets - Eastern Europe, Asia, the Far East,
  Africa - not only new market opportunities but
  also how emerging markets impact on the business.
• Job re-designs - de-layering, downsizing etc.
• New product development.

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Responses

• What is the response of some businesses to these
  sorts of changes? The following list might be
  some typical responses that could be heard in
  many an organization
• Oh, we've tried that before and it failed then...
• You might have done that elsewhere but this is a
  different place...We're too busy!
• We don't have enough time as it is...You can't
  teach an old dog new tricks!
• Let's form a committee to investigate and report
  back...But we have always done it this way...
• If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

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Final Thoughts

• The previous might be seen as being potential
  barriers to change in an organization. Change is
  something that can bring about a number of
  different responses - the fear of change,
  however, might be one of the primary responses
  that generates inertia and stagnation in a
  business.

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Final Thoughts

• Many people will go through a series of stages in
  coming to accept change. These may range from
  refusing to accept it, trying to ignore it, being
  frightened of it, through to a lack of control
  then to begrudging acceptance, a desire to find
  out more and internalizing the change - seeing it
  as being part of the normal working process.

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Final Thoughts

• Think about the massive impact that IT has had on
  the working environment in the last 20 years.
  Many people have had to adapt to the use of this
  new technology - many have made the transition
  successfully. For many businesses, the
  identification of training needs and making sure
  that staff had the appropriate training not only
  to cope with the technology but also to be
  confident about handling new versions and
  extensions of that technology, has been something
  that they have had to face.

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Final Thoughts

• Think about the massive impact that IT has had on
  the working environment in the last 20 years.
  Many people have had to adapt to the use of this
  new technology - many have made the transition
  successfully. For many businesses, the
  identification of training needs and making sure
  that staff had the appropriate training not only
  to cope with the technology but also to be
  confident about handling new versions and
  extensions of that technology, has been something
  that they have had to face.