Organizations deal with change regularly, but when the pandemic hit, the scale of that change ramped up exponentially for everyone. Where prior to the pandemic, change may have been centered around “normal” business function such as production, employee retention, business expansion, profits, and losses, etc. When the pandemic hit, all of the change pertaining to those topics were still in play, but on a grander scale. The businesses that were able to manage the change associated were the ones that managed to stem the tide and survive. The businesses that struggled to keep up with all of the changes were the ones that either faced shutting their doors or are looking at deficits that may be too large to overcome.

Dealing with change in business is nothing new. It is built into the fabric of doing business, and it is what ultimately defines success or failure with many businesses. In fact, whenever a business, pre-pandemic, attempted a change initiative, it quite often failed, simply because the “right” people were not included in the effort to make it work. Couple that with a global phenomenon and a recipe for disaster is created. The easy fix in most cases is to involve HR or HR personnel early in the process. That way, the “right” people are involved before the employees impacted by any change have an opportunity to resist any change.

The Companies that Survived

The ultimate question is, “how did the companies that overcame, succeed?” That question was answered above; companies entrusted and involved their HR departments and personnel in the process from the start.

The companies that did not, made the mistake of thinking the employees who would be impacted by the change were the problem; rather than taking into consideration how they could manage the transition on employees so it would be accepted by the employees and not resisted. It makes sense if you take a step back and think about it. HR deals with people. Change often involves people. So why shouldn’t HR be involved with change management and assist employees to understand and deal with the change. They had HR personnel that were versed in change management and got them involved early on.
 
This was never more evident than when the pandemic hit, and companies were either forced to allow employees to work remotely or shut down completely. Working remotely for most was a foreign prospect. Yes, it had been bantered about for years. However, it was not common practice, and now every business basically was faced with the same issue. The successful businesses were able to ramp up quickly and efficiently logistically--and with technology they were able to remain as productive as possible. There is a good chance HR played a major role in those companies in achieving those goals.

Four Key Factors of Change

We observed that there were basically four things that had to take place in order for companies to transition from in-person to remote working. They were:

1. Analyze what needs to change and who is impacted.
2. Develop a plan to change it.
3. Execute the plan.
4. Measure the results.

Where some of the companies fell short was in the execution. They simply did not follow all of the steps. They implemented steps 2 and 3 but never considered all of the potential impacts, nor did they have a plan in place to measure the success or if it was something they could sustain.

Communication is Key

Another key component throughout was communication. When businesses were working in-person, communication was, or should have been, much easier to do on a daily basis simply because of the visibility and availability of employees to one another. When everyone works remotely, communication becomes a challenge. A challenge that needs to be addressed from the start to ensure success of the program.

Communication does not only apply to the remote work process; it pertains to the role it has in the change management process as well. Everyone involved has got to be on the same page whether that be with conversations, listening or with feedback. It is important to know that with communication, explaining the “why” is crucial. People need to know that there is meaning and a reason why things are being done the way they are being done. The worst thing that can happen is for employees to view change as change for the sake of change. Change has to have meaning and value to all involved. HR can assist in delivering that message to help employees see their opinion matters.

Include Employees in the Solution

Another aspect that the successful companies utilized was including employees in the change management process. The saying “if you are part of the solution, you can’t be part of the problem” holds true. Also, including employees provides them with a vested interest and buy-in to the process that they can impart on their colleagues and build across the organization. This proactive approach will help HR personnel identify employees in the organization that could be valuable assets for future change management initiatives.

Good companies always plan for the worst. The best laid plans do not always work out. It is best to have a plan B. Anticipation of what could go wrong has saved many companies future headaches down the road.  Change management is not a be all end all. But, it could be the difference between success and failure for a business that deals with change regularly. Entrusting your HR personnel, the people you have hired to deal with your people to help your people through change is not only common sense, but also the smart thing to do.