How to Motivate Your Staff to Adopt Your New Strategic Plan
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2024 8:28 am
Many of our clients end their strategic planning exercise with two or three major projects to complete over a one to three year period, such as implementing a new management system, adopting a new online marketing strategy or undertaking a key operational efficiency initiative.
Many clients have a clear idea of how to achieve this with their staff, but others struggle to manage change while keeping their team motivated and engaged.
In this blog post, I provide some tips on change management using the example of Company S, a custom software development company that wants to implement a new project management process.
Company S in a few words:
Despite the dedication of project managers and the long hours they worked, projects were falling behind schedule for three reasons.
Since the company did not have a unified project management methodology, each project manager worked independently.
The allocation of resources to various projects was inefficient and costs were out of control.
Project managers made decisions without knowing the commercial aspects of client contracts, such as penalty clauses or completion bonuses.
Company S decided to hire a consultant to help them solve these problems by implementing a new project management system and training their project managers.
The company was concerned that its managers would resist these new changes. It wanted to ensure the success of the upcoming transformation with a solid plan to address resistance to change.
Here are some recommendations on change management that we would have made to this company and others in similar circumstances.
The success of any key change management project is about creating a sense of urgency and motivating staff at all levels to participate and embrace the change.
Start with the WHY
As humans, we all resist change to varying degrees. It’s not enough to hold a general kickoff meeting to introduce a project and explain why you’re undertaking it. Communication must be consistent at all levels of the organization.
Explain why the project is important
Managers should emphasize the benefits that staff will gain from the changes and the current problems that they will solve.
Here are some examples of messages that Company S could convey to address the concerns of its employees and convince them to accept the change:
"Everyone is tired of overtime. This new approach will help us save time."
"We are at risk of losing contracts to competing rich people database companies because our projects are three months behind schedule.
“By reducing the effort spent on repetitive tasks, we can focus on the more motivating aspects of our work.”
"We can improve our profitability by being more efficient, which allows us to upgrade our tools and systems."
Highlight the key benefits of change for staff
Company S could also convey these messages to inspire its staff:
"We will pay our project managers and team managers to get Agile certification, which is a way to develop their project management skills."
“The increased efficiency will help reduce the workload for all staff members. For example, we can reduce overtime by creating a reusable code library.”
“By changing our process, we will eliminate the need to hire a new person and reduce stress for the team.”
Of course, these messages must be accompanied by an appropriate explanation of the project process and the specific activities that will need to be carried out to implement the new project management system.
Communicate consistently at all levels and address all concerns
Members of Company S's management team should define key messages and agree to repeat them in all formal and informal meetings.
Each manager would then relay these general messages to their teams, along with specific explanations of how the project would impact work and how the team would contribute to the change effort. Many one-on-one conversations with affected staff members were also necessary to explain their specific role in the project, how they would benefit from it, and how the company would help them learn new skills to adapt.
It is essential to listen to your staff members and address their concerns.
Finally, a great way to motivate and mobilize people is to establish an informal group of project champions— people who believe in the project from the start. These people can be very effective at talking to those who resist change informally, rather than in a hierarchical relationship.
Empower your staff
A key factor in successfully managing change is to involve staff in the development of the project and gather their ideas. A major mistake is to decide everything at the management level before launch. If staff can contribute, they will be more motivated to accept the change!
Ideally, the project implementation structure would include periodic meetings with affected groups to take their feedback into account in the decision-making process.
At Company S, project managers and department heads formed a focus group to monitor the project and make suggestions on how to implement changes.
Make quick wins and highlight them
One of the most important characteristics of successful change management is achieving quick wins. In the case of Company S, it will take a long time to implement the entire project management process. However, by tracking the profitability of projects and celebrating when they take off, it will motivate staff members who work hard to achieve results.
Many business owners don’t want to share detailed financial information with their teams, but no one wants to work on projects that aren’t profitable. Staff members need to be given the information they need to make the right decisions. Communicating profitability or reaching other key success milestones is essential to building momentum.
It is just as important to highlight quick wins as it is to highlight milestones.
Celebrations also give everyone a sense of accomplishment. During these celebrations, congratulating specific staff members for their achievements and contribution to the success of the project also creates pride and ownership of the results.
Company S made two important decisions: First, they put a poster up on the wall for everyone to see and check off project milestones as they progressed. Second, they hosted Pizza Fridays. Having dinner (virtually or in person) together on Fridays allows everyone to relax, share their excitement, and feel like the project is moving in the right direction.
Have a plan to deal with resistance to change
After implementing the changes, everything seemed to be going well for Company S. However, a few people on the team expressed concern that they would not get used to the new project management software and wanted to go back to the old way of doing things. One senior engineer refused to use it altogether.
Company S was caught off guard because it had not prepared for resistance. The change effort could be compromised partially or completely without a plan to deal with resistance.
Many clients have a clear idea of how to achieve this with their staff, but others struggle to manage change while keeping their team motivated and engaged.
In this blog post, I provide some tips on change management using the example of Company S, a custom software development company that wants to implement a new project management process.
Company S in a few words:
Despite the dedication of project managers and the long hours they worked, projects were falling behind schedule for three reasons.
Since the company did not have a unified project management methodology, each project manager worked independently.
The allocation of resources to various projects was inefficient and costs were out of control.
Project managers made decisions without knowing the commercial aspects of client contracts, such as penalty clauses or completion bonuses.
Company S decided to hire a consultant to help them solve these problems by implementing a new project management system and training their project managers.
The company was concerned that its managers would resist these new changes. It wanted to ensure the success of the upcoming transformation with a solid plan to address resistance to change.
Here are some recommendations on change management that we would have made to this company and others in similar circumstances.
The success of any key change management project is about creating a sense of urgency and motivating staff at all levels to participate and embrace the change.
Start with the WHY
As humans, we all resist change to varying degrees. It’s not enough to hold a general kickoff meeting to introduce a project and explain why you’re undertaking it. Communication must be consistent at all levels of the organization.
Explain why the project is important
Managers should emphasize the benefits that staff will gain from the changes and the current problems that they will solve.
Here are some examples of messages that Company S could convey to address the concerns of its employees and convince them to accept the change:
"Everyone is tired of overtime. This new approach will help us save time."
"We are at risk of losing contracts to competing rich people database companies because our projects are three months behind schedule.
“By reducing the effort spent on repetitive tasks, we can focus on the more motivating aspects of our work.”
"We can improve our profitability by being more efficient, which allows us to upgrade our tools and systems."
Highlight the key benefits of change for staff
Company S could also convey these messages to inspire its staff:
"We will pay our project managers and team managers to get Agile certification, which is a way to develop their project management skills."
“The increased efficiency will help reduce the workload for all staff members. For example, we can reduce overtime by creating a reusable code library.”
“By changing our process, we will eliminate the need to hire a new person and reduce stress for the team.”
Of course, these messages must be accompanied by an appropriate explanation of the project process and the specific activities that will need to be carried out to implement the new project management system.
Communicate consistently at all levels and address all concerns
Members of Company S's management team should define key messages and agree to repeat them in all formal and informal meetings.
Each manager would then relay these general messages to their teams, along with specific explanations of how the project would impact work and how the team would contribute to the change effort. Many one-on-one conversations with affected staff members were also necessary to explain their specific role in the project, how they would benefit from it, and how the company would help them learn new skills to adapt.
It is essential to listen to your staff members and address their concerns.
Finally, a great way to motivate and mobilize people is to establish an informal group of project champions— people who believe in the project from the start. These people can be very effective at talking to those who resist change informally, rather than in a hierarchical relationship.
Empower your staff
A key factor in successfully managing change is to involve staff in the development of the project and gather their ideas. A major mistake is to decide everything at the management level before launch. If staff can contribute, they will be more motivated to accept the change!
Ideally, the project implementation structure would include periodic meetings with affected groups to take their feedback into account in the decision-making process.
At Company S, project managers and department heads formed a focus group to monitor the project and make suggestions on how to implement changes.
Make quick wins and highlight them
One of the most important characteristics of successful change management is achieving quick wins. In the case of Company S, it will take a long time to implement the entire project management process. However, by tracking the profitability of projects and celebrating when they take off, it will motivate staff members who work hard to achieve results.
Many business owners don’t want to share detailed financial information with their teams, but no one wants to work on projects that aren’t profitable. Staff members need to be given the information they need to make the right decisions. Communicating profitability or reaching other key success milestones is essential to building momentum.
It is just as important to highlight quick wins as it is to highlight milestones.
Celebrations also give everyone a sense of accomplishment. During these celebrations, congratulating specific staff members for their achievements and contribution to the success of the project also creates pride and ownership of the results.
Company S made two important decisions: First, they put a poster up on the wall for everyone to see and check off project milestones as they progressed. Second, they hosted Pizza Fridays. Having dinner (virtually or in person) together on Fridays allows everyone to relax, share their excitement, and feel like the project is moving in the right direction.
Have a plan to deal with resistance to change
After implementing the changes, everything seemed to be going well for Company S. However, a few people on the team expressed concern that they would not get used to the new project management software and wanted to go back to the old way of doing things. One senior engineer refused to use it altogether.
Company S was caught off guard because it had not prepared for resistance. The change effort could be compromised partially or completely without a plan to deal with resistance.