7 Steps to Get Employees to Accept Change

How to Get Employees to Accept Change

1. Evaluate policies

First and foremost, you must rigorously evaluate whether the change that you’re about to implement is necessary.

Will it ultimately help your company’s bottom line?

Or will it simply distract you from more important matters?

In other words, is it a good change? If so, then getting your employees to find acceptance will be doable. If not, then you have a formidable challenge ahead of you.

How do you know if something is a good change?

For starters, see if you can find case studies of companies that have implemented similar changes.

What are their results?

Do they have any shortcomings?

Studying these outcomes will help you decide whether you should move forward with your plans.

Overall, be as analytical as possible. Make informed decisions by considering the pros and cons.

Even so, you will most likely not be able to anticipate what exactly will happen. No one knows the future. Predictions can be wrong. This is why moving on to the second step is so crucial.

2. Start small

Quickly implementing a company-wide change can be an expensive mistake. Have you thought about the worst-case scenario?

For example, let’s say you want to upgrade the company’s software system. Installing new software on every computer at once is risky.

What if a glitch makes all the computers malfunction? Now, employees can’t do their work until the error is resolved. This is why starting small is a good idea.

In this situation, you can start small by installing the new software on a few computers. Check for problems by listening to users’ feedback before working on the rest of the computers.

In general, starting small enables you to test an idea before you go all in. It’s a way for you to refine proposals and avoid frustration in the long run.

I doubt you want anyone to feel frustrated at work. Instead, you want employees to feel calm and collected because that will help them accept change. Starting small will help you do just that.

3. Introduce a training program

If you want your employees to accept change, then you must do everything you can to help them adapt. For example, you can implement a training program before the change goes into effect.

Give everyone a space to ask questions and become familiar with the new policies.

Ideally, you should start training before you implement the change, even if it’s just with a few workers at a time. Work out any issues beforehand so that productivity and sales aren’t affected.

In addition, the training program should still be happening when the change is implemented, especially for the first few weeks. Be patient. Employees will accept change if they are given the time to find acceptance.

4. Choose ambassadors

Employees are more likely to accept change if they see that their colleagues and friends are already on board.

People listen to folks close to them.

Therefore, you should pick some employees to be ambassadors for the change. Through Q&A sessions and demonstrations, these ambassadors will help frontline workers see eye-to-eye with the management team.

Ultimately, after proper training, the ambassadors will do everything they can to help their fellow workers accept change.

5. Create an innovative company culture

As a business owner, you know that change is inevitable. That’s because markets overall are dynamic. The competitive landscape changes all the time. Businesses must keep up. Otherwise, they risk losing customers and market share.

Your employees might not know this. They might simply view change as an inconvenience.

Their mindset will be different if the company has a culture built around innovation. Then, employees will view change as just another day in the office. They will understand that the company wants to be a leader and pioneer in the industry.

So, how do you build an innovative company culture?

Tell employees to let you know if they ever have an idea for a project or initiative. Let them know that their opinions are valued, regardless of their position on the corporate hierarchy. They are free to challenge the status quo. In fact, they are encouraged to do so because that’s how innovation starts.

When people have questions or opinions, they talk to others to see if anyone else feels the same way. Healthy debates arise.

Then, everyone gets together to evaluate the best course of action moving forward. This is how change naturally occurs. In other words, when the company has an innovative culture, change happens from the bottom up.

By default, employees will accept the change because they are the changemakers! They personally want things to happen.

6. Provide incentives to early adopters

Let’s revisit the software update example.

Initially, you can set a hard deadline. This is when everyone must switch to the new software.

In the meantime, however, you can make the new software available to anyone willing to make the transition early.

You can reward early adopters with gift cards, bonuses, and other perks. This will convince employees currently on the fence. Other employees will switch if they see that their peers have already made the transition.

All of this means that the company will be in decent shape when the hard deadline arrives.

7. Speak with the resisters

By now, most employees should be on board. However, there might still be a few unhappy workers. It’s time for you to meet with these people to see if their complaints are valid.

Are they having issues that other employees are also having?

Or are they giving everyone a hard time because they just don’t like change? If so, then think about whether they should continue working at your firm.

You’re trying to create an innovative company. You want to be a leader in your field.

Anyone who irrationally rejects the company’s mission is not a good cultural fit. They can go work somewhere else. You can then hire new workers with better-aligned values.