Managing people through change: Managers & Supervisors

Course Outline

We live in a dynamic working world. New technology, new systems, company mergers, cost
savings and corporate expansion are just a few of things that make ongoing change inevitable.
The aim of this workshop is to help your organisation manage workplace change by focusing
on the main area of risk – your employees. The key to successfully managing change is to win
the commitment of employees to change. Because if it isn’t carefully managed, change can
have unforseen consequences that can reduce or even nullify the intended benefits.

Content

STAGE 1: Starting Out

1. The change situation:

• Assessing the degree of perceived threat
  and level of uncertainty felt by employees

2. Organisational strategies:

• The importance of effective communication
• Timeliness – reducing the length of uncertainty
• Clarity – keeping information clear and simple
• Making sense – explaining the reasons for change
• Vision – showing the future
• Participation – getting staff involved in change
• Showing leadership – the key to trust

3. Individual strategies:

• Individual factors – dealing with individual needs
• Self efficacy – helping individuals believe they
  can meet the challenges of change
• Social support – the role of supervisors & coworkers
• Personal resilience – how different people are
  equipped to cope with change

STAGE 2: Moving Forward

• Agents or objects – seeing the human issues
  and their impact
• Loss and grief – how people react to change
  and helping them cope
• Fear and hope – overcoming the former
  with the latter
• Resistance – insights into understanding resistance
  and handling it in a positive, co-operative way

STAGE 3: New Horizons

• Personal development of staff
• Supervisor training
• Organisational values
• Ongoing information
• Visible leadership
  

Expected Outcomes

At the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Have a full understanding of the importance of
  managing change
• Identify the differing concerns of employees and know
  how to minimise their feelings of uncertainty
• Be equipped to help employees through the change
  process
• Know how to identify the key change issues for employees
  in their individual corporate change situations
• Help deliver a better change outcome for your organisation