Why change is now tougher

We’ve asked a lot of people about the impacts of the pandemic on their businesses and how much change was needed in their industry as a result. The responses told us that:

• The majority of businesses need to change more than usual (72%)
• Employees want to spend less time in the office (97%)
• The majority of employees want to work more flexibly (74%)
• And, that better leadership is needed to drive change (62%)?

This creates an incredibly challenging environment for businesses on top of the usual obstacles to driving change. There are still challenges with budget, leadership, communication and engagement.

The impact of the pandemic on business

We asked business professionals how the pandemic had impacted their industry. Was it negative, balanced or positive?

You may expect the pandemic to have been very negative, but:

• Only?25% reported a negative business impact from the pandemic
• Nearly as many,?20% reported a positive impact
• 55% reported a balance of positive and negative impacts?from the pandemic.

How people want to work

There’s a strong desire to change work-habits compared to before the pandemic, including:

• 97% of employees desire less time in the office
• 74% of employees would like more flexible hours
• 41% would like more time off
• But?68% want to work more collaboratively
• 57% want more online meetings, and 54% want less in person meetings

Why Change?

One of the most important factors in achieving successful change is whether people understand the reason for change. We asked people how well they understand the changes they are being asked to lead or be part of:

• Only?22% of employees thoroughly understand why their work is changing
• And?38% of the leaders don’t have a thorough understanding.

Expected Change Impacts

How are planned changes expected to impact, profitability, people, society, the planet and the responder themselves. We calculated net positivity scores based on the answers (positive responding percentage minus the negative responding percentage).

People are overwhelmingly positive about the impact of change at work:

• Highest scores were for the impact of change on the planet +42%
• Impact on society was also rated very positively?at +41%
• Expected impact on?people, +23%?and?profits +34%?were also very positive
• Responders thought?change would positively impact them, +38%

Barriers to change

We asked leaders about the biggest challenges they face when leading change. We also asked employees what would make change at work a better experience.

The responses provide some similarity in views between the two groups:

• 41% of leaders said they found leadership a challenge, and
• 62 % of employees said clearer leadership?was needed

There were also areas of disconnect between leaders and their employees:

• Leaders found?changing behaviour the biggest challenge (50%), whilst
• The?highest priority for employees was clearer communication (63%)
• Although?53% of employees wanted more involvement in change?only
• 20% of leaders said involvement was a challenge.

Ability to change

Leaders are positive about their team’s ability to respond to further change. Interestingly when asked about their own ability to change, employees rated their own ability to change even higher.

The results were:

• Leaders were +53% net positive about their teams’ ability to change*
• Asked about their own ability to change,?employees were +89% net positive
• And?Leaders were +90% net positive.

All of these results are exceptionally high on a net positivity scale. If reflective of actual ability to change they could demonstrate a revised resilience to change, perhaps as a result of the COVID, a kind of Post-War spirit. Only time will tell whether actual ability to change matches these scores.

Expectations of success

Leaders are confident in delivering the required benefits through change.

Here’s what they told us:

• 65% were confident?(or very confident) in delivering change benefits
• 12% were very confident
• Only?4% said they were either concerned or very concerned?about benefit delivery.

The high expectations are fantastic, but can they be realised? We already know that typically transformation only achieves 35% of targeted benefits, and now we know the change environment is tougher than ever. To realise our ambitions, great leadership, expertise and experience will be needed.

So, what now?

COVID has affected businesses in a variety of positive and negative ways. The common theme is that most businesses need to change more than usual. Most people have also changed their attitude to work. Less office working, more flexibility, more time off and less business travel are all things that individuals reported as desirable.

Change remains tough. Getting the right leadership, budget, sense of purpose, engagement and communication all remain critical.??The environment of increased need for change, increased expectations of result, partnered with changing desire for ways of working adds complexity.

Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be running?#Shine?to help leaders with Change Management tips, advice, leadership forums and impact creation sessions.

If you’d like to be involved, let us know here:

More information about approaches to Change Management:

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