10 Things We Learned From Doing Organizational Change Management From Afar
Over the past several months our consultants have continued to provide organizational change management support to our clients – but from afar! We reached out and asked our consultants to share lessons learned from providing organizational change management support remotely. Here is what they had to say:
Begin with hello! Begin each remote meeting with a warm greeting and meaningful “chatter.” This keeps things from being “all business all the time” and demonstrates your interest in them as individuals and not just a voice.
Know the norms. Michelle Spencer, an experienced OCM Consultant, reminds us to “Check with the client regarding their preference and protocols for using technology such as video cameras during conference calls, and follow the norms.”
Always display something. “Always have something on the screen to show (or tell, if you’re not visually creative) what the remote meeting is about,” Ricky Mathis, an OCM and Training consultant advises. “Keep updating it as the call progresses so that people know that you’re listening to what they say. ‘We’ statements to an be very effective to indicate OCM is bigger than one person.”
Listen to voice levels, words, and inflections. This enables us to get a sense for what people may be thinking without visibly seeing their expressions and body language. This is a great skill to work to develop.
You can still have the “meeting after the meeting.” Mara Kershaw, a Strategic OCM Consultant and Coach, advises “If you miss these valuable impromptu conversations, then make them happen. Proactively reach out, especially to the tough-to-reach folks that don’t always respond to an email or text.”
Work closely with those you have not met before. Schedule a one-one-one with them to introduce yourself and learn about them. Facilitate personalization and make it known that you’re looking forward to meeting them in person when appropriate.
Check in for alignment. Michelle adds, “Meet with your manager regularly to ensure you are providing the necessary level of engagement and deliverables. This is always important, but more so when you’re not onsite together.”
Email is back in vogue! Ricky has observed, “Suddenly it’s OK again to pitch email as a communication method! It’s been interesting to observe this shift as we can no longer leverage other communication channels such as posters and digital displays, as no one is in the office to see them.”
Don’t “go native.” Mark Freeman, an OCM and Business Process consultant, cautions “Do not become too comfortable or relaxed when working in our home office environment. It’s critical to keep our eye on the ball in terms of what we are trying to accomplish for our clients. We are still serving our clients who are financially investing in our time. If anything, we need to pay more attention to what we do and say and how we present ourselves than if we were on site.”
Remote adoption is our job. As OCM practitioners, Mara adds, “We’re uniquely positioned to and it should be part of our role to help organizations move culture, processes, and technology to support broad adoption of remote work.”
Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how our organizational change management consultants can help your organization deliver effective change from afar.