Change is hard – but this CEO and president reveals how it helped him build a stronger business and more resilient team


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In the past year, our company has evolved significantly, expanding our services and integrating new internal systems. It has been a period of retraining and adaptation.

Implementing a major change in a business happened once every five or ten years, but with breakthroughs artificial intelligence coupled with economic uncertainty and digital transformation, businesses need to pivot and adapt much more often. Global spending on digital transformation is expected to take a hit $3.4 trillion by 2026AND 64% of organizations report the need to build new digital businesses to stay competitive in 2024 and beyond.

We often hear entrepreneurs and business leaders talk about working “in” the business rather than “at” the business, but understanding your company from the bottom up has significant benefits. Today, I am the president and CEO of my company, but throughout my career, I have worked in every area of ​​my field, from the warehouse to driving a truck. Here's how I've been given an invaluable perspective when it comes to managing change.

Related: 3 ways change leaders prevent, minimize and manage (or create) resistance to change

Seek to understand workflows before tdiffract

Earlier in my career, I worked for a company that hired outside consultants to revamp it oPerations to comply with the new customs regulations. More than 75% of its employees at the time were frontline workers and unfortunately, they were not consulted in the process.

When it came time to roll out the new structure, to say the implementation was messy is an understatement. Oversights led to significant storage fees and operations issues that caused project failures and employee morale to decline. In the end, the lack of internal consultation cost the company a lot of money and pain.

When it comes to implementing any big change, it's essential to involve the people working on the front lines of your business. According to Beekeeper, frontline employees often face a disconnect from leadership, only with 23% feel involved in decisions related to change. This exclusion fosters resistance and disengagement, as 74% of employees I believe leaders need to understand why people resist change in order to foster cooperation.

By truly understanding the day-to-day responsibilities of your frontline employees and understanding how the change will affect them, you are more likely to gain internal buy-in and buy-in and make the necessary adjustments to the plan.

I've seen too many businesses make the vital mistake of pushing a change from the top down instead of consulting their teams to get feedback on critical decisions. In these cases, it almost always leads to staff and customer turnover, which has a spiraling effect on culture and morale.

Related: Rapid business expansion can be a good thing – but it comes with challenges. Here's how to make this growth sustainable.

Your frontline employees drive your bottom line

More often than not, implementing a change in a business is an effort to improve profit margins. Too often, however, company leaders fail to realize how much of their bottom line is driven by their entry-level workers. For example, a high turnover of entry-level staff is said to cost Amazon 8 billion dollars a year.

To successfully implement a change, it is essential to have representation from every department in your organization involved in the discussions. This should not be limited to leaders and team managers; it is equally important to have representation from the frontline workers involved.

Amongst this mix, I personally like to include vocal naysayers – team members who are known to impact the culture and not always in a positive way. This serves two purposes: the first is that sometimes opponents have valuable feedback that other team members are too weird to express. The second is that if you can convince a vocal naysayer that a change is positive, they often become your best internal advocate.

Double education and training

I remember a time when we promoted a front-line employee to a leadership role. She was not the first for this position. In fact, she had started her career by being a vocal critic of our operations, especially other departments.

In the end, what got her the promotion were the leadership skills she developed through change management education and training. She embraced coaching and ended up championing the departments she once criticized, committing to helping them improve and do things better.

When we educate and train our teams on how to embrace and embrace change, we create stronger leaders. Research shows employees who receive the right training are more likely to stay with the company, directly impacting the bottom line through reduced turnover and increased productivity.

This is true on every level. Whenever we organize training at work, even if I have already passed it, I try to make a point to attend. As leaders, we are often removed from the practical implications of what we ask of our teams. Taking part company training it can be a great reminder. It also shows your team that you are not above learning and that you are going through change as well.

Change is hard. But when we develop the skills to prepare and adapt to it, we can build stronger businesses with more resilient teams. To do this effectively, it is essential that leaders engage with team members at all levels. The insights and perspectives gained from consulting front-line employees are often what make or break a company.



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