Today’s article is a guest post from Doctoral Student, Stefani Bonilla. Enjoy!
Running a company comes with the responsibility of making the tough decisions. As any company progresses, change is inevitable, whether significant or minor. Company shifts can cause animosity and lower employee morale. From a change of leadership to layoffs, change can cause fear and uneasiness to spread across the company. Without proper leading, change can discourage employees and hinder any thought of a brighter future.
Companies choose to change and usually shift because a problem has been recognized. Change is not always negative within a company, but resistance to any change by employees can be. Employees feel insignificant and unsure of the future when change begins. How do employers inspire employees who are resisting change or making a transition difficult?
Reassure Employees of their Purpose
Keep employees up to speed with changes and explain to them why the changes are to meet the goals that have not been met. If employees feel a strong sense of purpose, it has an impact on their health and performance. It is that employers inform, involve, ignite and invite employees to participate in changes that will be implemented. When employers are in communication with employees and inform them, employers have more credible information due to the exchanging with employees. When employees are involved in the change, they take not only pride but also responsibility for this change. As employers reassure employees of their purpose, they inadvertently ignite their employees’ imaginations and also encourage them. When employees are invited to participate in change, they are empowered to accomplish the change.
Change sometimes challenges the status quo. Though rare and quite daring, company shifts can result in employees leading the business.
New Vision
Envisioning the future of the company has a significant impact on employee motivation. If an employer merely states facts to an employee during this emotionally stressful time, communication does not happen because there is no understanding by the employee. However, passion can aid in communicating the vision. Passion is quite evident, and employees can see how it is rooted deep inside the employer, and they will be more inclined to invest in it as well. This investment is not superficial, but instead, employees want to have a part or say in the vision cast for a company. The fear of change is masked by the opportunity to influence or have a piece of the future.
Establish Goals
Leaders implement plans, which include goals with strategy, organization and implantation processes. Transformational leaders implement these plans with enthusiasm and excitement. Leaders are more likely to fail when they do not have a clear goal that has the potential to inspire employees. Goals do not need to be articulate rather goals that are large and daring develop a passion and excitement within employees. Transformational leaders focus on their employees and want them to improve and develop them towards their full potential.
Are you ready for the Change?
Strategic planning is required to inspire employees and reduce a company-wide shock that has the potential to occur. As employees are reassured of their purpose in the company, included in the new vision and given new goals, resistance to change decreases. If the power is given back to the employees to lead the company, then planning how to maintain new social systems and overall leadership structures long-term is critical.
Throughout a company shift, not only do employees grow in this company shift, but employers also develop better leading skills. At the end of the day, employers have the responsibility to make the hard decisions and to remember it is better to be respected than liked. Inspiring employees during a company shift may be challenging but yields higher moral, better work ethic and an overall increase in production.
Stefani Bonilla has a Masters in Leadership from Asbury Seminary and is currently a Doctoral Student at Regent University in the Strategic Leadership Department. Growing up as the daughter of a Pastor and the youngest of 7 siblings, she learned to cope with change at an early age. Stefani has had a variety of work experiences including the medical field and multiple churches. You can follow Stefani on Twitter @stefbon7.