Whether you like to admit or not there are always going to be times when you face challenges when it comes to managing.
One of the most demanding situations is when you are going through a period of change.
Now I’m sure that you appreciate that there is change happening all of the time. That’s just the nature of life and business.
Equally there will be times when you are faced with what might best be described as a more significant change.
A change that results in loss of staff or the introduction of new technology or a very different way of working.
How you manage people through these periods of change makes a difference.
So how can you do this effectively?
Acknowledge your own feelings of doubt
You are human. You have commitments like everyone else. You have doubts.
Acknowledge all of this but don’t let it be a barrier to you managing the situation you are in.
Don’t see it as personal
Decisions have to be taken in the best interests of the organisation at times. If you are faced with change remember that it’s not personal so don’t view it in that way.
Make more time for people
In times of change people are going to want more of your time not less. Investing that time might have a big impact on you short term.
You can choose to invest that time or not. If you don’t you are likely to find that change becomes more and more of a struggle and difficult to achieve.
Don’t pretend you can create more time
You have your time allocation each day, week, month and year. You can’t buy an upgrade. All you can do is change how you determine where you invest your time. What you focus on and what you don’t.
Be realistic
I’ve noticed over the years that there is often a reality gap when it comes to change. In truth everything takes a whole lot longer than it might seem. Whatever timescale you come up with, double it and you are probably close to reality.