People at the heart of change management

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People at the heart of change management. In this conversation Judith Germain speaks to Jennifer Bryan about how to put people at the heart of change management. Jennifer advocates starting with the person furthest from decision making to understand their perspective, then working inward to establish buy in.ย 

Key Takeaways

  • Involve a wide range of stakeholders when planning organisational changes. Understand their level of interest and influence.
  • Assess how the change will impact people and their day-to-day work. Address their concerns.
  • Allow plenty of time for change readiness activities before go-live.
  • Use change champions to cascade information and gather feedback. Empower them to engage their teams.
  • Deliver what you promise or explain why plans changed. Maintain trust.

Topics:

Change Management Theories

  • Jennifer believes change management should focus on people, not complex theories. She uses an “in-person in mind” approach.

Technology Changes

  • Ask key questions upfront to understand the vision, timing, and expected reactions.
  • Involve IT, HR, comms/marketing, operations etc. Change requires cross-functional collaboration.
  • Assess how the tech change will impact people’s ability to do their jobs day-to-day. Address concerns.

Organisational Readiness

  • Often the time and effort required for readiness is underestimated or overlooked entirely.
  • Use focus groups and testing to ensure the change makes sense to all employees globally.

Small Scale Changes

  • Even changes affecting a small team can send ripples through the organisation.
  • Identify who will be impacted and how. Manage perceptions.
  • Leverage change champions to cascade info and gather feedback quickly. Empower them.

Maintaining Trust

  • Deliver what you promise or explain why plans changed. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Jennifer Bryan is a published author, TedX, global speaker, and MD of Change and Leadership. She is also a VP of the Association of Change Management Professionals UK and author of ‘Leading People in Change: A Practical Guide’.


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Jennifer Bryan can be found on LinkedIn here. Her website can be found here.

You can listen to Episode 378 on any of the popular podcast platforms or apps (including Spotify, and Audible). If you prefer to listen to your browser you can do that below. Enjoy!

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Maverick Paradox Media is for the pathologically curious who seek to learn from lateral thinkers, including how to execute maverick thinking. We provide a Maverick perspective on the world arounds us. ๐Ÿ’ข I am the leading authority on ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ and Founder of Maverick Paradox Media. It is because I am passionate about demonstrating that Maverick Leadership exists everywhere and understand that we can all learn from diverse and differing voices that I founded Maverick Paradox Media. Maverick Paradox reaches thousands of leaders and business owners, empowering and inspiring them to think differently, challenge often and increase their leadership capability. ๐Ÿ’ข Maverick Paradox Media consists of: โœ… The Maverick Paradox Podcast (on all popular podcast platforms/apps โ€“ available episodes here: https://www.maverickparadox.co.uk/maverick-paradox-podcast-available-episodes/) โœ… The Maverick Paradox Magazine I also write for The Maverick Paradox Magazine and you can find those articles under my name Judith Germain.