Understanding the Role of Managers during Change

Whilst we recognise the importance of the managers' role in successful transformation, we often neglect the fact that change adoption needs to happen at the core of the organisational workforce - the front-line employees. Too much focus and trust might have been placed on our managers' ability to lead, that we lost the ability to notice why transformation and change management are failing.

The role of managers and supervisors is to legitimise the changes impacting the teams they lead. They therefore should play a key role in producing change outcomes, with employees looking to their managers for overt instructions and subtle cues on how the coming changes within the organisation may impact their role. With only 35% of participants involved in Prosci's Best Practices 11th Edition research indicating that managers and supervisors are adequately prepared for their role in change, ensure your organisation is fully prepared for change.

Expectations of a manager during change include:

• How to communicate change to staff members (personal messages around how the change impacts them should come from an immediate supervisor)
• How to answer questions Key messages to pass to employees
• How often communication should take place and the importance of keeping employees informed about the change
• Identifying and managing resistance including identifying areas of potential resistance
• Helping staff members adapt to change through coaching, preparation and guidance
• Managing questions and facilitating a smooth transition

Managers need to be better trained and prepared to coach employees

There are a wide range of change management workshops and programmes that companies can send their managers to, to gain knowledge of best practices and structured methodologies to achieve their desired transformational change outcomes.

Yet, despite the importance of taking actions to communicate with employees and engaging employees, only 39% of managers and supervisors undergo certified programmes in change management, as reported in Prosci® Best Practices in Change Management 11th Edition Benchmarking Report.

Adequately prepare your managers with the Prosci Leading your Team Through Change Workshop

The Prosci Leading your Team Through Change Workshop is designed to help people managers proactively lead employees through change.

This programme is for anyone who manages employees, from frontline supervisors to middle managers to senior directors. Download the brochure!