This month the Laughology team have been working a lot on the theme of change (click here and scroll down the page to read The Laughology - eight stages to organisational change). Change is a word that can cause all kinds of emotional responses in an organisation. Awareness of feelings and managing reactions towards change is an important part of any transformation process. Some people associate negativity with change whilst others see change a positive.
Positioning what change means in your organisation will determine how people react to it and it's this which needs much consideration. It's more fitting for modern businesses to treat change as a continuum rather than a finite process. The fast pace of business means organisations need to focus on positioning transformation as continuous improvement where business and organisations are constantly evolving in order to stay ahead of the game.
Helping teams and individuals grasp this concept and increasing resilience and flexibility in people is the best starting point. In doing so you have people within an organisation that can think and adapt as quickly and effortlessly as they need to.
"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."
― Lao Tzu
Helping your team is about communication and support and how you position what is going to happen. Some guidelines are
- Be clear about defining why continuous development and evolution is important – what does it mean for the organisation to be like this, how will it help in the future
- Create a shared understanding of what business evolution means – why is this important for the business now
- Share ideas, inspire with vision and engage people and teams on what they think would be useful for their development and improvement
- Lead the way. Make sure leaders and managers have the knowledge, people skills and coaching skills to successfully develop and evolve their teams. This is the key to successful continuous development and improvement.
- Creating the right culture. Having a culture of trust and honesty through positive, open relationships and communication will impact on how people adapt and respond to development and new ideas. Creating the right culture from the beginning is essential to engage employees.
- Help teams and individuals see where you are now and what needs to happen to get to the next stage. Small goals and steps that are manageable and communicated well help people feel more in control and happy about development.
If you want to know more about how Laughology can support your teams to be flexible and resilient take get in touch for an informal chat.