No-one really likes change. Most people are creatures of habit who enjoy building certainty in their lives. Organizations have spent the last 23 months adapting to a pandemic and making significant changes to the way their teams work. In many cases, businesses have had to completely pivot their service offering.
Employees have grown accustomed to working remotely, using a laptop at their dining room table instead of a fixed office location. Hours have become more flexible, and processes have changed to allow for more wiggle room and growth based on how employees work more productively, not necessarily within rigid protocols. Let’s not even mention the uncountable number of Zoom meetings and everything else that has been adapted quickly to minimize a disruption in productivity. For many organizations, productivity saw a boost as teams were able to work when and how it worked best for them.
As organizations plan their return-to-work strategies, now is the perfect time to reflect on the last year and incorporate new ways of working into a new back to work strategy that embraces some of the changes that companies and their employees don't want to reverse. Employees, customers, and stakeholders are far less likely to resist a permanent change now, in the midst of where we are and the inability to revert back to normal.
When creating change, a company needs to focus and funnel its efforts into where they are fully needed. It’s easy to say that a change will be made, but in order for that change to see fruition, there must be a set structure, strategy, and implementation process set in place. Organizations may feel that they need to have every team member included in the process, but this isn’t true and is actually counterproductive. For an optimal change management strategy, do not distribute tasks and projects equally, rather, ensure that the tasks assigned align to both skillset and roles.
Before Organizations Implement Change, they must first:
Evaluate where the business is now. Don’t document what needs to change, just get an image or snapshot (figuratively) of your current state.
Ensure the end goals as a company are documented, including business culture, engagement, customer services, processes, etc.
Analyze these goals and compare them to where the organization is now. Roughly pinpoint what is working, what needs to be fixed, and what needs a complete overhaul to embrace change.
Document what actions and activities need to take place to get the organization to these end goals.
Prioritize these tasks based on criteria such as what will add early value. Identify who is responsible for which changes.
Communicate the change, including the “why” and “what,” to the team (include specifics to each function and role within the business).
Measure success on an ongoing basis as this will promote overall continuance of the changes as well as ensure the milestones’ completion is being met (and whether further changes need to be made).
Above all, listen to your employees and take into consideration the ideas of your team. Statistics show, and top companies have proved, that an engaged and contented workforce will lead to great customer service, which in turn translates into strong revenue growth.
Organizations have seen success by adapting to permanent post-pandemic changes in the workplace, such as:
Rework the operational delivery process. We’ve seen now, for the most part, that remote does work. Certain functions can even be more efficient. Enabling employees to work remotely, even to relocate overseas, has now provided a wider benefit not only to existing employees who are happier working in their location of choice but for the companies where they work. This also provides scope for access to a greater talent pool when recruiting specific roles and offers opportunity to access talent from lower cost countries delivering operational cost efficiencies.
Embrace the Sales Technology Stack. Hold onto or adopt tools that help automate the sales process and create consistency and transparency to the process (e.g., CRM, campaigning, quoting, outreach, video conferencing, etc. - examples include HubSpot, Salesforce, Outreach, Discover/Zoom, Sales Loft, Crystal, etc.).
Optimize the team structure and responsibilities. If there are gaps in your team structure in this new world, is there something that you could consider adding to make revenue development easier (pre-sales, AM, regions, solution architect, inside/inbound, etc.)?
Sales outreach processes. Is your cadence creating awareness and curiosity? Are you effective at moving your deals through the pipeline? Now is the opportune time to find and incorporate processes that improve your overall outreach.
Analyze your Key Performance Indicators. Are you measuring the right things? Take the time now to change the scorecard and reinforce the right behaviors.
Find new partnerships and channels. Have you explored all available channels to market, such as events, direct, and digital marketing? Would a partner program add value and provide an additional revenue stream? Other organizations are likely asking themselves the same questions.
Consider staffing/recruitment changes. If organizations are happy with remote working, then future candidates can be drawn from a much wider geographical area, giving them access to a larger talent pool. You could consider new staffing ideas like offering job shares as a way of retaining staff who are looking to reduce their hours.
Review your physical office dynamics. Before your teams return to work, take the opportunity to look at how the office is laid out and make changes to reflect the new hybrid model (employees working both from home and from the office). What didn’t work before? You may need to move departments around for improved collaboration and communication between teams.
It’s become widely accepted over the last few months that there will be no returning to the “normal” we had prior to the pandemic. We have no default to fall back on if our changes don’t work out. In fact, based on all the benefits that appeared once we were forced to make changes, we shouldn’t want to return to normal. Now is the time for companies to look at capitalizing on these shifting mindsets and accept the changes that have been made while looking for ways to incorporate even more positive change in the workplace.
Now is the opportunity to take advantage of the reduced resistance and drive organizational change. Companies can benefit by making easier, more embraceable changes that can help move the business from where it is to where you want to be. During the pandemic, change was a requirement. Now, is the time to take a thoughtful approach and create a structured plan, supported by a third-party perspective, to reach success faster than any other time.
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