Stakeholders WFH? 3 Big Tips For Change Managers

In this episode of The New Way podcast, I’m sharing 3 big tips for change managers when all (or many) of your stakeholders are working from home or on flexible work arrangements. This isn’t a conversation about how leaders and change managers can an…

Are you working from home at the moment?  Yeah, so am I.  At least a couple of days a week.

In case you missed it, last week on the podcast we talked all about the power of identifying and making sure we’re aligning our change management strategy to relevant trends. 

Well, today on The New Way podcast I’m diving into a workplace trend that’s impacted most of us over the last 18 months.  Plus I’m sharing 3 big tactical implications for change leaders.  

Yep, we’re talking about working from home. 

This isn’t a conversation about how leaders and change managers can and must help embed work from home policies. That’s been done to death at this point.

Instead, what I think is most interesting is what this means for change leaders and change managers charged with driving and delivering organisational transformation from now on. Because it seems working from home, or at least far more flexible work arrangements are here to stay.

That’s why today I’m sharing 3 big tips for change managers when all (or many) of your stakeholders are working from home.

I’m spilling the beans on:

  • The core capability change leaders must become industry experts at to deliver successful change across remote teams

  • Why once-off info or training sessions are dead

  • My rule of thumb for communicating in virtual settings

This is such an important trend to think about for everyone in organisational change management right now, so listen in today.


No matter where your organisation is currently at - perhaps everyone’s working from home all the time, perhaps most folks come into the office a couple of days a week, however it looks for you right now - this episode will help you roll out the right mix of change strategies so you can drive killer, long-lasting organisational change.

TOPICS DISCUSSED AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:

[1:45]: Recap of last week’s episode on trends and why we need to align our change management strategies with trends.

[3:15]: Working from home is a trend that has impacted most of us in the last 18 months and is likely here to stay.

[4:30]: Current research shows that people want to work from home and bigger tech companies such as Atlassian and Dropbox are charging ahead to embrace it. 

[7:30]: Being flexible is important but the workplace is also a major place for meaning and social connection, particularly for Gen Z according to research.

[8:30]: Change leaders must become industry experts at creating a sense of belonging in the workplace by thinking through change strategies and tactics and be intentional about delivery.

[9:40]: #1: Forget about hosting once off training. Design a continual cycle of experiences where every learning opportunity is part of a longer awareness and capability uplift journey.

[10:30]: #2: Deliberately set aside extra time in meetings where the change team is collaborating or connecting with others to intentionally create social spaces for informal communication and coaching. 

[11:45]: #3: Over communicate. As your visibility decreases, your frequency and quality should increase. 

[13:30]: The quality of your communications will make or break your change success.

[14:00]: As change leaders, we must rethink and evolve the tactics we commonly use to drive change. It takes more care to drive change remotely but it can be done.


LINKS

Website: https://www.everchange.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkatebyrne/

Kate Byrne