Getting People to Change

Trying to get some/all of your people to change in order for the business to operate more effectively sometimes is a lot more difficult and slower than we might expect. Here are some tips that might help you ……

It’s important to remember that you can’t change other people – you can only change their behaviour and the best way to do that may be by changing the way you manage and motivate them, and react to them:

• Make sure your people feel at ease and are relaxed. You can help this be giving regular praise for work well done.
• Don’t blame people, and admit when you make a mistake. Ask for help from your people when you need it.
• Ensure your people understand why they do what they do and the impact it has on the business as a whole. Be aware of the constraints they face and help them prioritise if necessary.
• Talk about the effects their behaviour may be having and the result it may be causing. Between you, you need to find out what the causes are and how they can be changed.
• Identify what the benefits are to them in changing their behaviour – this will help to motivate them to improve.
• They will need to be reassured that the change is within their capabilities. It may be that you will need to consider giving them support to achieve the change.
• Try to make the first part of the change the easiest so the transition doesn’t seem too daunting. Also success early on will motivate them to continue.
• Regularly monitor and review the change to make sure they don’t start to slip back into old ways!

In summary: