Understanding Change is Essential to Employee Engagement

In New England, it’s the perfect time of year to think about and embrace change as we watch the trees change from green to vibrant oranges, reds, and yellows, and then eventually to completely bare trees. Understanding change is essential if you are going to work to improve your employee engagement. Just about every initiative you work on requires change, and the more you can do to educate yourself and others on what happens through change, the easier it will be to manage.

Here are 6 keys to managing change:

1. Remember that change is everywhere
   Change is all around our work and personal lives. If we didn’t undergo change, we’d be at considerable disadvantage, whether it be corporately or individually. “Change” often means keeping up with the times.
2. Think evolution, not revolution
   Many changes are initiated in order to continuously improve and build on our results, or to simply make our lives better. Change is rarely introduced to tear everything down and rebuild what was there before. It may not always feel like it, but change typically isn’t a conscious choice to make our lives more hectic.
3. Ask questions!
   Get the facts about the change by speaking up and getting answers to things that aren’t clear to you. Try not to “fill in the blanks” with your own assumptions, since often times it can be wrong.
4. Ask for help when needed
   Nobody can read your mind – be vocal about your needs and how the company, your manager, or your co-workers can appropriately support you.
5. Be forgiving and more tolerant
   Change can often be difficult and people are bound to make mistakes. Be more forgiving and lenient with others (and yourself) during these times as we all go through the change together.
6. Make stress management a habit
   Whether it’s going to the gym, talking a walk with a friend, or doing some deep breathing though-out the day, try to make stress management part of your daily schedule whenever possible.

Understanding change is essential towards improving employee engagement and any other improvements you are trying to make within your organization. Using these keys will help you to manage change and remind yourself that the process is normal, and that like New England, change can be a beautiful thing.

– Kaitlyn Carr, Organizational Development Specialist, @EmplyEngagement @Kacarr789