On several occasions, I have tried to address the impact that change in the workplace has on employees. Downsizing, restructuring, leadership turnover, even new product rollouts or the implementation of new policies – in short, any major variation from the way things have always been done – can create anxiety, confusion, resentment and stress among your employees. What I haven’t thoroughly addressed yet is the impact that managing all that change can have on managers.
Dealing with changes can be just as hard on managers as it is on subordinates. Change can be just as threatening and just as disorienting to managers as it is to everyone else. Mangers suffer the same losses – loss of relationships, loss of job security, loss of status, loss of that sense of safety and predictability that change always produces – that create stress for those under them. However, managers also carry the added burden of having to implement these changes, even when they might not fully support them. This can create a new set of difficulties that the manager must cope with on a uniquely personal basis.
First of all, in the case of changes that are largely unpopular or confusing, the manager must deal with “shoot the messenger” syndrome. You may already be familiar with this phenomenon. The decision and design of the changes were formulated far above you, perhaps from corporate HQ in another state. The changes are disorienting or troubling to your employees and they don’t like them. Since corporate HQ is remote and inaccessible, you are the one who must deal with the criticism, complaints, and anxiety of your people as they vent their frustrations on you. It isn’t your fault; you may not even support the changes yourself, but you must bear the brunt of the fallout and it can definitely be an unpleasant experience.
We have discussed before that to manage change effectively with your employees, you need to keep lines of communication and information open with them, encourage feedback, take their concerns seriously and do what you can to address them. This is hard enough to do when the changes are basically positive, but when change involves loss or anxiety, the road gets rougher. Managers are human too, and we don’t like to get beat up emotionally for things that are not our fault and over which we have essentially no control. For this reason, it is easy for managers to ignore the above advice and, instead, adopt a couple of poor coping skills in an attempt to protect themselves from the pain of change happening around them.
One common response to painful change is to just ignore it. This can play out in several ways, but the simplest way is to just stay busy attending to “more important business.” In this scenario, the manager may call a brief meeting or send out a memo notifying everyone of the change and specifying how it should be implemented. Instead of providing much needed presence, participation and support, the manager retreats to the office, stays on the phone, avoids contact with staff, and relies on other people to deal with the transition. This is a recipe for disaster. Above all, a manager must be a leader – someone people can look up to and count on to provide stability in times of impending chaos. By abandoning employees in this time of need, a manager is creating a breech of trust, leading to a loss of credibility that can destroy morale and undermine productivity. Eventually people quit caring, and they may either start trying to undermine the manager or just quit and leave you in the lurch.
Some managers may not go so far as to ignore the situation, but they come close by minimizing or denying the impact that change has made. Their attitude may be something like, “Hey, change happens. Nothing lasts forever, so deal with it and move on. We have work to do.” To a certain degree, this is true. However, that in no way lessens the impact upon things like employee morale, focus and loyalty. A good manager will be sensitive to the fact that employees need time and support in order to process the significance of changes and adjust to the impact. By minimizing or denying this need, managers are sending the message that these employee feelings and concerns don’t count, which is the same thing as saying EMPLOYEES don’t count! If you want employees to give you their best effort during difficult transition, this is certainly not the impression you want to leave with them.
As a manager and a leader, your employees look up to you for more than just setting schedules and enforcing policies. Your attitude and communication skills set the tone for the way the rest of the team performs, whether you like it or not. During times of change, hiding and pretending it is no big deal will only makes things worse for everyone, including you! It is always best to openly acknowledge difficult times, and offer encouragement, holding out hope that things will get better soon if we all work together. Even if it means letting others vent their fears and frustrations to you, so be it. It really isn’t your job to fix everything, but it is your job to make sure everyone knows their needs are being taken seriously. That is what being a manager – and a grown up – is all about.
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March Management Quick Tip of the Month – Feedback Goes Both Ways
Most managers are pretty good at giving feedback. You know, passing out the occasional “attagirl” along with a few helpful suggestions for improvement. But you are missing a great opportunity for improvement if you don’t let that feedback go both ways. The people who work under you probably have insights and suggestions for ways to make your shop a more efficient, more positive – ultimately more profitable – place to work. Too often, managers are less than warm and encouraging about accepting employee feedback. Managers may say they want feedback, but if it is routinely ignored, employees give up making suggestions and assume you don’t want it and you don’t care. By failing to solicit employee feedback and take it seriously, you not only miss an opportunity to reinforce a good working relationship, you almost certainly miss out on great information that could make your whole team more effective. Don’t let preserving your image or your sense of control undermine the success of your department. Keep an open door and an open mind.
