Hostile staff and bad leadership: the challenge for change management
By Martin Kornacki (29-09-2009)
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Hostile, uncooperative staff are one of the largest barriers for businesses attempting to manage change, a study has found.
This combined with poor leadership and cautious, bureaucratic work cultures leads to “reduced profitability and competitiveness” according to researchers from Lane4, a leadership development and coaching firm.
Its study of organisations ranging from small businesses to FTSE 100 companies across 26 different countries found the majority of businesses had experienced a substantial change over the last two years, but less than one in ten felt they had been successful in managing that change.
Katie Warriner, Lane4 research consultant, said: “To succeed at the change game, leaders must manage a multitude of challenging barriers. By failing to handle change properly a firm can face reduced employee productivity particularly during large-scale change.
“In addition, poorly managed change causes reduced profitability and competitiveness, loss of talent in the short-term and attrition in the long-term, low levels of employee engagement and compromised management credibility.”
Researchers said that messages from managers were often unclear and communicated too formally, preventing employees from really understanding what the change was about.
Warriner concluded: “Our survey findings indicate that people factors require the most attention. Therefore, to ensure successful change, leaders must consider engagement as a mindset rather than a stage on a project plan.
“By developing and communicating a compelling story for change, shaping an effective process and enabling the people, leaders can ensure that people understand the reasons for change, care about initiatives being a success and are equipped to make it a success.”
This combined with poor leadership and cautious, bureaucratic work cultures leads to “reduced profitability and competitiveness” according to researchers from Lane4, a leadership development and coaching firm.
Its study of organisations ranging from small businesses to FTSE 100 companies across 26 different countries found the majority of businesses had experienced a substantial change over the last two years, but less than one in ten felt they had been successful in managing that change.
Katie Warriner, Lane4 research consultant, said: “To succeed at the change game, leaders must manage a multitude of challenging barriers. By failing to handle change properly a firm can face reduced employee productivity particularly during large-scale change.
“In addition, poorly managed change causes reduced profitability and competitiveness, loss of talent in the short-term and attrition in the long-term, low levels of employee engagement and compromised management credibility.”
Researchers said that messages from managers were often unclear and communicated too formally, preventing employees from really understanding what the change was about.
Warriner concluded: “Our survey findings indicate that people factors require the most attention. Therefore, to ensure successful change, leaders must consider engagement as a mindset rather than a stage on a project plan.
“By developing and communicating a compelling story for change, shaping an effective process and enabling the people, leaders can ensure that people understand the reasons for change, care about initiatives being a success and are equipped to make it a success.”
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