If I had it to do over again, without hesitation, I would factor in attention to the psychological effects of change on employees.  It would have been a win-win for employer and employees. However, at the time, this insight hadn’t entered my awareness.  The insight being: we need to equip employees with an “emotions compass” that would help them adapt to new circumstances in the workplace.  And, here’s the best part: it would be easy enough to implement, while saving a whole lot of human-capital costs by transforming fear, disgruntlement, and resistance into productivity and effectiveness!

Virtually all organizations either have in-house or contract services for HR.  As well, many offer Employee Assistance programs (such as counselling services) either in-house or contracted out.  All that would have to happen is for HR and/or Employee Assistance to develop a game plan for helping employees cope with their emotions/reactions together, as part of an organization’s change management strategies.

Quite simply, the approach would be to hold sessions at a branch/divisional level to brief employees on the psychological aspects of change, for instance: how change affects people differently; how, when change comes, it is a time of transition; how there can be a grieving process as one adjusts to the new order of things; and so forth.  Offer to those who want to attend, counsellor-lead group sessions where employees can share their emotions/reactions to the change.  As well, HR/Employee Assistance can point employees to resources that can help them whether these be certain books, videos, websites, training in mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and so on.  The objective is to facilitate and expedite healthy adapting to new circumstances.

When it comes to coping with our emotions/reactions to organizational change, why should each, grope their way, in the dark, navigating change?  Experience shows us, it is a faulty supposition that, faced with workplace change, people can generally deal with their emotions/reactions by themselves.  It is equally problematic to support the view that employees should be solely responsible for managing their adaptation to change.  Holding on to such principles may well be at the cost of forgone efficiencies and effectiveness – the opportunity cost of not keeping an eye on the human psychology ball, so to speak.

Nowadays, when something disturbing or calamitous happens, resources are deployed to help people process their experience, to understand that their reaction is normal, and to gain strength from knowing that others are having similar challenges in adapting.  There are support groups for virtually every type of major life-altering situation – e.g., survivors of heart attacks and strokes, victims of abuse, addictions, bereavement, mass shootings, bulimia, and the list goes on.  So why don’t workplaces offer emotional group support in times of change to facilitate the transition from the way things were to the way things are going to be?

In the absence of knowing where to turn, for emotional support, when change happens in the workplace, employees engage in sharing their distress at the water cooler, or behind closed office doors, or with family and friends – anyone who will lend them a sympathetic ear.  More often than not, this is not enough; it does not provide the necessary lasting relief.  Consequently, the distress can manifest in disruptive behaviours of various sorts which typically fall under labels such as: sabotaging, demonstrating a poor attitude, slacking off, testing boundaries, sarcasm, passive-aggressiveness, sick days.

How might things be different in terms of smooth transitions if employers built into their change management plan assistance for employees to help them with the psychological aspects of change?  Imagine what a benefit it would be to employers if they showed they value their employees by offering group sessions to address the very normal feelings that may arise with organizational change?

Make no mistake. My intent is not to invite on-going complaining and griping.  On the contrary.  I am advocating that we acknowledge that people struggle (some more than others) with change.  I am advocating that employers equip employees, at all levels of an organization, with tools to help them understand and manage their reactions.  I am advocating that employers implement strategies to support employee adaptation that is psychologically healthy. Without deploying such strategies, employers are left with the current general picture of systemic resentment, bitterness, and spreading of untrue/exaggerated rumours.

If your organization provides its employees with tools that facilitate their ability to make a healthy psychological transition to new workplace circumstances, please share them by contacting me at: info@sublimitypathways.com or @Sublimitywpg. Thank you!