Episode 16
Navigating Change: Why Employees Tune Out and How to Capture Their Attention
Summary:
Kelsey Arico explores the often-overlooked emotional dimensions of organizational change and transformation. She emphasizes the importance of addressing how changes impact employees on a personal level rather than merely focusing on business outcomes. Highlighting the pitfalls of vague communications and sanitized messaging, Kelsey advocates for genuine conversations, active listening, and empathy. Discover how leaders can bridge the "credibility canyon" by incorporating emotional consideration into change management, thereby fostering trust, engagement, and employee retention while navigating transformation efforts.
Chapters:
0:00
Importance of Addressing Change Emotionally
0:39
Varied Emotional Reactions to Change
1:08
Consequences of Over-Sanitized Messaging
1:50
The Credibility Canyon and Trust Issues
2:19
Modern Expectations of Emotional Consideration
2:49
Integrating Empathy into Change Management
3:15
The Power of Real Conversations and Active Listening
Host Kelsey Arico: linkedin.com/in/kelsey-arico-775b772b
Executive Producer Jim Kanichirayil: linkedin.com/in/drjimk
Music Credit: "Lost in Dreams" by Kulakovka
Transcript
Most organizations that are undergoing transformation would rather perfect a comms plan or their project plan for weeks rather than prepare for how change will actually feel. That's where they blow it. I know this because I often spend my time as a change in communications practitioner supporting organizations in that exact moment, and it doesn't matter how much I advocate for it,
they don't even want to talk about it at all. They sanitize the messaging. They pretend everyone will process the change the same way at the same time. They only want one potential emotion considered in that brainstorming. And the truth is, change hits everyone differently. Some people might feel excitement, others might feel grief.
messaging is so over edited, [:They look at each other and say. What aren't they telling us? And I've seen it in transformation after transformation, these big changes are communicated or rolled out, and leaders really stay surface level. They frame everything in business logic. This will help scale us. This aligns with our long-term strategy.
These decisions are hard but necessary. Meanwhile, people are reeling, they're losing roles, relationships, routines they've held for near term or 20 years. It doesn't matter that gap between what leaders are saying and what people are feeling. That gap, it becomes what I'd like to call a credibility canyon.
to face the very real, very [:In today's world, employees expect actual emotional consideration to be built in, not bolted on later after the fact or ad hoc built in. They expect it to be woven into how you lead, change, how it's communicated, and how they experience it. So the days of just being thoughtful, those are gone. This is about meeting people's basic human needs, basic employee needs.
Change can't just be logic and no empathy anymore. The workforce has raised the bar in they're watching you to see what you do, to see what you say, and if those things are.
ey're on track or you have a [:Design for how change will feel. Not just how that change will function or how you need those team members to function. This takes real work, not a script, not a slide deck, conversations.
Full body, active listening and care. And what that looks like is talking to people when possible before you roll these things out, not personas, right? We've all designed those and they're great for a certain, purpose, but real human conversation, asking people the hard stuff. Now that you've heard this, what would you be worried about losing?
What are you worried about losing? What part of this change feels uncertain for you? What would you need to move through that? Map that emotional landscape,.
osing not to be authentic in [:Just because we pretend it's a business decision doesn't mean it's not impacting people's lives .
