Transformation: Beware of ‘haters’

WE have established that resistance during organisational transformation is inevitable.

It is driven by fear of the unknown, the uncertainty that lies ahead and, in some instances pure ignorance as to what the change is set to achieve.

If you dissect resistance, it tends to be self-centred, coming from a place of – What’s in it for me? WIIFM?

In the previous article we concluded that clear, consistent and constant communication pre-empting the concerns of employees goes a long way in addressing WIIFM to minimise resistance.

Where or who does the resistance emanate from you may ask? From the haters. I believe the slang word ‘haters’ is selfexplanatory and commonly used to aptly describe someone who is working against you and not supporting your endeavour/ cause.

For the purposes of this article I will use some creative licence and bundle people, objects and environmental factors as haters.

Culture

“CulturE eats

Peter Drucker.

Culture is fundamental to the success of any organisation. Put simply, it is ‘the way we do things around here’. It consists of values, behaviours and systems in an organisation.

It is a set of shared beliefs expressed as traditions through rituals, behaviours

strategy

for

breakfast,” and language. together they create an environment which either breeds or impedes the success of the organisation.

Therefore culture can be a barrier or proponent of change. It is so powerful in that having a great strategy and execution plan (transformation programme) in black and white does not in and of itself guarantee success.

A culture that is open, adaptive and continuously learning for example is more likely to be responsive to the message of transformation than one that is not. Culture is ever evolving and is successful only when both the leaders and employees are invested in shaping it.

Leadership

Nothing can succeed in an organisation without sanction or endorsement by the leadership. A transformation without leadership support is doomed to fail.

Employees will very quickly identify any dissonance between the transformation team and leadership, exploiting it to resist and stall change.

If the leadership do not believe in the goal, decisions are dragged out and indecision will abound increasing frustration in the transformation team.

Allocation of funding may not timeous and insufficient resources will be partially committed to the programme.

The transformation team does not exist for itself, it serves the organisational objectives.

Can it challenge team, respectfully? YES.

The team is set up to deliver the transformation strategy on behalf of the leadership to achieve the organisation goal, therefore they must be aligned.

One way to address this, is by identifying a ‘friendly’ leader, one who understands the leadership the goal, is willing support and be an advocate.

Above all, they need to with their peers and organisation.

These leaders are an asset to the transformation team representing them and helping them sell the change in a way that other leaders can understand and get on board with.

Colleagues

There is no transformation without the people. That dissonance between leadership and the transformation team creates a chasm quickly filled by employee resistance to change.

It manifests through attitudes, behaviours and language. More often than not, it is passive aggressive than overt.

tell tale signs can be gaining agreement in meetings yet delivery time lines are missed, leadership are not holding people accountable for actions, people are not released from the day job to work on assigned programme work streams and there is fear mongering amongst colleagues breeding distrust in the leadership and the goal to be attained.

A transformation needs more advocates than detractorsas colleagues influence each other more than any formal communication could.

Hence the identification and appointment of change agents as advocates is a key contributor to success.

These colleagues are influential, operating within both the formal and informal channels which are closest to the heartbeat of the organisation, acting as a gobetween the people and the organisation.

Funding

to lend their

be influential within the

Delivery of any transformation requires money.

Without funding programme delivery will not go very far resulting in a missed opportunity for the organisation and demotivator for those advocating for change.

Sometimes external specialist consultants are engaged to help deliver the programme (knowledge transfer) and/ or coach the internal transformation team and employees.

Employees will need to undergo training to understand the impact of the change journey they are about to embark on.

Depending on the extent of the change they may also need emotional support to be made available by the Hr Change management team.

A variety of artefacts is required to support the programme such as marketing material to reinforce communication on the goal, painting a picture of success and generating excitement in the organisation. What has become obvious is the ‘haters’ that have been highlighted are interlinked. They may be addressed in isolation but if at least one of them is not aligned to support the transformation the likelihood of failure is very high.

leadership need to lead the change as the ‘chief cheerleaders’ giving assurance and guidance to the employees. This helps manage resistance to change. They are also responsible for leading the culture that creates an enabling environment for change and ensure adequate funding is available to give the transformation a good shot at success.

— programme