All Change!™

Description

Learning Objectives: ■ how to plan for change ■ how managers can introduce effective change strategies ■ identification of potential problems for staff undergoing change ■ the importance of detailed planning ■ key levers to use when change is on the horizon and underway ■ seven steps to successful organizational change More about the activity: All Change! sets up a simple situation for teams: an organization, spread across two sites in the city, is about to move to a single site outside the city. How should it best be handled? The move will disrupt in several ways. For some staff it will mean a longer commute, for all it will mean moving from a city-base to a rural environment. The computer system to be installed at the new location is familiar to staff in one of the two sites, but not the other. More staff are to be recruited and some job roles will change. The changeover is due to take place in one year. Faced with this situation teams are asked a crucial question: What major considerations and challenges can you identify for a smooth and seamless transition to the new site - and exactly how would this work? You can instruct all teams to work on the question from the managers’ point of view OR, for more learning points, you can have one of the teams work from the staff's viewpoint. Participants should identify the issues arising for managers including planning, people's resistance to change, the problem of poor communications, not giving staff ‘ownership’, the importance of being straightforward, and breaking down the silo mentality. For issues arising from the staff change, they should identify a convincing reason why the change is necessary, clarify the rewards, positive outcomes, and benefits, and recognize fears and concerns around uncertainty, redundancy, and losing the status quo.