8 Ways to Build Trust During Change
Are you in the process of leading a change and your employees or team are hesitant to follow? Do you have low trust in your team and now have a change initiative to take them through?
Low trust directly impacts how you approach change with a team, but even high trust teams require trust building during a change initiative.
As a leader or designer of a change initiative, whether you are part of the project team, change team or sponsorship team it is critical to define in detail the change impacts to existing processes and day to day activities of the teams that will be impacted by the change in the organization. This is a must have for change planning.
Without the above, critical information needed to communicate to leadership and employee groups who are being asked to embrace the change is lacking. Communication scripts and generating buy in rely heavily on explaining clearly what is changing and why. Ambiguity or lack of alignment across leaders on these two points creates distrust in the change process across the organization, often leaving employees questioning the credibility of leadership as a result.
So how can you build trust across your teams as you lead a change initiative? Start by including the following:
Ensure you have the right people leading and designing the implementation – this includes everyone from the project management team to the subject matter experts, all must be well versed and respected by their peers as knowledgeable and capable.
Involve employees from the start – begin with challenging assumptions related to the change across leader groups. Ask employees early and often where they are at with it, what they know about the change so far and make sure that communication is frequent, responsive and on target. (eg. If an employee group is concerned about the processes taking more time but the leaders think they are concerned with the software usage, your change messaging won’t be providing the right information to help individuals work through their fear or resistance. You will appear out of touch, eroding trust overall.)
Gather feedback continually from all employee groups during the implementation phase, including leaders, make needed adjustments and communicate about it. Repeat continuously. This allows the implementation team to correct issues in real time before they become problematic and shows employees they are an active part of getting it to work as intended (the change is happening with them, not to them).
Admit when you are wrong or have an error in the process and correct it. Invite help from the appropriate groups and communicate the process and resolution as you go along. Give credit to the solvers as you go.
Communicate updates regularly, even when there is no update (hint: no update is the update!). Setting and maintaining a communication schedule is key to helping employees rely on the process and trust that they will be given timely information needed to stay in step with the change. It also keeps false information and the rumour mill from running rampant.
Deal with visible resistors. Make sure that employees choosing to sabotage change efforts or are not participating in the implementation are dealt with using every effort to get them on board. When that is not possible, there must be a consequence to their behaviour. Opting out cannot be an option.
Clearly articulate performance expectations for the transition from the old to the new so employees understand the how the dip in productivity while they learn the new behaviours will be monitored and supported.
Be sure to acknowledge employees when you see their proficiency improve and are starting to get it and follow the new way. Continue this beyond the official end of the implementation when relapse behaviour is strongest.
There are many things beyond what’s listed here that you can do as a leader to increase trust during change. Always remember that when your employees are learning something new, the tone you set and the clarity you can give around the expectations you have are key to their success and ability to keep momentum through the initiative and produce the desired results.
Not only does this help your team successfully navigate the change, it builds trust across the group and strengthens your change competency for the next initiative. If you are having difficulty with your team as you navigate change, I can help you find solutions to get back on track and build trust along the way. To learn how, click here.
