Reassuring Employees

What employees need today: 12 Ways to Reassure Employees during a transition

?Big internal and external transitions can have a challenging impact on businesses, especially when leadership and economic factors are changing. To ensure a seamless transition if you are bringing in a new leader, reducing your workforce, or changing the direction or culture of your business, it's important to proactively ease any concerns and be available to answer questions your team may have about the new manager.

Transitions of all types can be hard on teams.

What is the best way to help employees and ease concerns during transitions?

1. Craft an internal communications plan

Crafting a communications plan early in the process and committing to communicating with transparency. Develop supporting materials for leaders like talking points, FAQs, updated org charts, etc. Address the questions at the forefront of employees' minds—e.g., what does this mean for me and my job? Encourage questions and answer as openly as possible.

2. Set clear post-transition expectations

Most employees’ concerns regarding transitions are whether their jobs are safe. Creating a post-transition plan where roles and expectations are clearly defined is vital. Sharing this information will go a long way to ease concerns during a business’s transition.

3. Make yourself available and ask for feedback

We've had a change this year at my company, and I found that being entirely transparent and over-communicating helped my team with the transition in a way that made everyone feel more comfortable and less anxious. Having extra office hours and asking for lots of feedback can also help. It's also vital to introduce leaders or economic changes in a way that helps them connect with each team member.

4. Have a succession plan

The only time a change in leadership or the business is particularly hard on a team is if they didn’t expect it. A succession plan ensures employees that the company has set goals and objectives. A succession plan eases their worries and establishes confidence in the future of your company.

5. Establish priorities for certain tasks

When leaders change, good executives leave, or a firm has a layoff, employees may struggle without trusted mentors and with more work than usual. Communicate with your employees about the most important tasks that need to be completed during the transition period. That way, they have the means to focus and complete their projects in a timely fashion.

6. Acknowledge the discomfort

Be authentic and acknowledge that times of transition are inherently uncomfortable. Assure your team that you will share information and support them in this change. At the same time, keep focused on your goals and provide steady guidance to the team as you weather the transition together.

7. Hold 1:1 meetings with team members

During times of leadership transition, get together with your team members for 1:1 meetings. During these meetings, your employees can comfortably address their concerns or ask any questions they have. Doing this will help you get to know your employees better, and you can make each of them more comfortable with the transition based on their individual needs.

8. Remind them you're still focused on the mission

People hate change, even though it can be a good thing. Everyone on our team buys into the overall mission. The mission stays the same when there are personnel changes. When there is management or firm instability, it's the perfect time to reiterate that we're still focused on the bigger task and that the vision is still the same.

9. Be confidently transparent in real-time

Uncertainty leads to unnecessary questions, worry, and rumors. Let employees know what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what that means for them moving forward before the questions are asked. Only then can you beat the rumor mill. Confident transparency is a proactive solution that lets your employees know they are your priority during any transition.

10. Ease into the transition

Although it's impossible to slow down every aspect of a transition, it is helpful to ease into one new change at a time gently. Give your employees a chance to adjust and ask them for feedback. Their feedback can help you do a better job. Ease into leadership or business transitions and give your employees the time to get used to new changes.

11. Explain the "why."

The key to healthy leadership or firm transitions is to overcommunicate and consistently explain the "why" behind your decisions. We recently went through many leadership changes, and the team was excited because there were no questions about what was happening or why. Instead, they were all excited for those being promoted or relieved that their job was safe and those that left the firm were being cared for professionally.

12. Define the future

Everyone asks a similar question during transitions: “What does this mean for me?” Employees want to know how they fit into the objectives of a company’s changing leadership. Address this point upfront. Describe the future and what it looks like. Let them know the company's mission isn’t changing, and define their new role. This will ease their concerns and excite them for the future.

For more information, please contact Brian Steffan at 703-944-5697 or [email protected].

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