How can you build trust during a transition?

Building trust during a transition can be a complex endeavor. Trust is a personal and subjective experience, so it's essential to be adaptable and open to customizing these strategies to fit the unique qualities of each individual besides the few general strategies e.g open communication, transparency, consistency.

Communication is key indeed, but it needs to be relevant information adapted to the audience it is meant for and also taking into account where the audience is in the acceptance or not of the change. An audience in resistance needs different communication and different handling than an audience who sees and accepts the benefits of the change.

Trust is the foundation for a successful transformative initiative. There are steps leaders can take to help team members through a transition: Be transparent – open and honest communication is the foundation of trust. Inform all parties as to the rationale, steps being taken, timeline, and expected outcome. Listen – change can be scary. Hear concerns, acknowledge fears, and be empathetic. Support – offer accommodations, flexibility, or additional training if needed. Collaborate – empower your team to share ideas and work together toward the common end goal. Change is inevitable. By fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement, team members can embrace and even lead change going forward.

Establishing trust during a transition demands openness, vulnerability, and consistency. In mergers or divestitures, falsely assuring that everything stays the same is a common mistake. Embracing transparency and addressing uncertainties shows empathy and care. Failure to communicate openly breeds unease and resistance to change. Vulnerability is key in fostering trust. Admitting mistakes and sharing experiences creates a safe environment. Leaders who expose their vulnerability display authenticity which encourages openness and understanding. To cement trust, credibility is crucial. Commit to actions, ensure accountability, and treat individuals fairly. Walking the walk is the cornerstone of credibility-building.

When it comes to change, emotion is either the biggest brake or the biggest motivator to go for it. Often the employees who have to implement the change cannot see the end of the tunnel. In summary, the way of communicating the changes in question is even more important than the content. Engage in communication with passion at least 7 times in various forms.

In change management, employee engagement is key. Allowing participation in decision-making not only garners support but also sparks innovative ideas. I prioritize assigning team members to work groups based on their skills, ensuring their contributions are impactful. Balancing leadership guidance with autonomy, I hold regular calls to keep teams aligned with broader goals. Recognizing efforts immediately through spot bonuses or public praise is vital for motivation. Accountability is central in this process; it ensures individual commitments align with project timelines and allows for meaningful recognition. This approach builds trust and drives successful change outcomes.

Agree! Top down , bottom up strategy in its true form builds trust amongst the employees and the organisation durring transition period and acts as a catalyst for long term sustainability

I once worked with a leader who often said: "In change management, there's a pattern. 20% are the enthusiastic early adopters who swiftly embrace new ideas. Another 20% tend to resist change, taking a while to come around, if at all. Then there's the middle 60%, undecided or slower to commit." "The key," he'd say, "is to engage the early adopters by highlight successes early on, and address potential risks with the resistant few. But the real impact comes from focusing on enabling the majority. That's where change gains momentum."

Open Forums and Townhalls can be great spaces for the leadership to directly engage in a conversation with the larger organisation. It would be important to ensure that the team members have enough time and space to suggest, ask, challenge and clarify. This could be a great way to build ownership of the change process at different levels.

As previously discussed regarding effective communication in this context, the associated benefits encompass people empowerment and engagement, extending to both the leadership team and employees. Drawing on my two decades of experience as an HR practitioner, the role in change management is intricately tied to this subject. This connection is evident in tasks such as identifying the impact of change on individuals and departments, assessing changes across the organization, and providing consultative support to leadership in implementing change initiatives. For instance, during and after Reduction in Force (RIF) and M&A, HR's role serves as a notable example of fostering people engagement and retention, particularly with key talents.

I was hired as an ops director at a small manufacturing company during the unexpected closure. I faced the challenge of building trust among employees and shipping products on time. To address this, I walked the facility to get a sense of the people. As I got to know everyone, I saw sadness, concerns, and questions. They just wanted answers, but no one was talking. They needed an environment to cope with the inevitable. I quickly organized meetups and storytelling sessions where employees could share their experiences. This fostered a sense of belonging, empathy, trust, and support among everyone, helping them work through the emotional challenges of the site closure together; while promoting resilience during the transition period.

Effective change management depend upon offering ample support and resources to the employees involved in the process. Often times, team members just need a helping hand to effectively manage a change. Tailoring this support to individual needs, whether through training, coaching, or mentoring, is crucial. It's not just about tools and systems, but also about nurturing a supportive environment where team members feel valued and equipped to adapt. A regular feedback mechanism through checklists and status update, while proactively offering support, eases the transition. Such comprehensive support demonstrates a commitment to the team's well-being and development, reinforcing trust and smoothing the path of change.

An effective leadership would take ownership and invest their time in ensuring that those who are most affected by the change, get all the support, time and counselling that they need. This could be done through focus groups, 1:1s and also through opt in sessions.

It’s important to be really clear what you are committing to when going through a change process and why. Once you’ve established clear and honest dialogue at each step of the way, making sure this is consistent in every way. Whether that’s language, timing, or the amount of information you are sharing, people feel safer when you provide consistency to manage expectations and life! I’ve run so many change projects in my career, and sometimes it’s really hard to realise the challenges someone is facing in their own life - and consistency provides them with a framework to be able to get their head around the change that’s happening. Finally, when you can’t provide consistency, be honest about it and why, and commit to something!

As a CPTD and it's test items writer and reviewer, I am familiar with ATD's change model, a six-step model with overlap between steps, particularly in Step 3: Activate Commitment, the focus is on the "how" of implementing change, recognizing that the process is not a neat, linear progression but often involves overlap with other steps. This step is critical as it involves mobilizing commitment and buy-in from key stakeholders, both at the leadership level and among employees throughout the organization.Consequently, organizations can build a solid foundation for successful change implementation, such as: culture of commitment, engagement, and collaboration that is essential for navigating the complexities of change in a dynamic environment.

Building trust during a transition in change management involves applying psychological principles: 1/ Consistent Communication- Cognitive Dissonance Theory suggests individuals seek consistency in their beliefs & attitudes. Aligning change messages consistently over time helps build trust by reducing conflicting information 2/ Reliability and Predictability- Drawing from attachment theory, individuals develop trust through reliable & predictable behavior. Consistently meeting expectations & providing stability during change establishes a sense of security 3/ Leadership Authenticity- Rooted in Positive Psych, leaders who express vulnerability, share values, & exhibit authenticity during change contribute to a trustworthy environment

One way I like to think about navigating change - personally and in the workplace is to STOP thinking about it as change management and instead, START thinking about it as success management. There is no success without change which is constant but still a term that often conjures up feelings of resistance. In my work in this area, I notice how much of what goes well most of the time starts with our words and the energy behind them. Starting from the idea that we are focused on navigating success instead of navigating the elements most associated with making sure change doesn't fail always goes better. Execution still needs to include these important steps but framing, I believe is an important early decision.

Stay curious; everyone is in a different place with transition and can suffer from change fatigue or be impacted more by a transition. Don’t assume; linked to stay curious, leaders need to stay humble and not assume they have done all the right things. There will always be something missed.

Identify trusted employees who believe in the change and empower them as ambassadors. Provide them with support and resources to champion the initiative among their peers, leveraging their credibility to gain broader acceptance and trust across the organization. By leveraging these trusted change ambassadors, you tap into their credibility and enthusiasm, which helps in overcoming resistance and skepticism among their colleagues and gives an opportunity for them to take on a leadership role and/or develop new skills.

Prepare your people for change. People do not inherently fear change, they fear unexpected changes (Simon Sinek). What often happens is that executives may spend weeks - even months - making a decision to make a change in support of the growth and health of a company, then quickly jump to initiating the change. Your employees have not had the same amount of time to consider and adapt to the change. Take the time needed up front to create awareness. Share why and why now, and make sure leaders at every level understand and can share those messages. Employee experience during a change management process matters and impacts trust. Employee engagement drives performance so make sure you consider your employees throughout.