How can HR support managers during times of change?

I’m sure you are all starting to get used to the format of Discuss HR by now.  This is our 5^th edition and I hope you are finding the diversity of topics to be engaging and interesting.  Last week Sheena McLullich wrote an excellent piece from the view point of an HR generalist and this week Jill Hart-Sanderson writes her first article from the view point of a training consultant about the impact of change. (Ed Scrivener)

How can HR support managers during times of change?

Findings from the CIPD’s 2010 surveys show that 33% of UK organisations are making 10 or more employees redundant. Therefore, a major challenge for HR teams is how to help their organisation cope with huge changes in operational structure and give the right level of support to front line managers, whilst at the same time coping with changes within their own team.

Recently I watched a film called The Navigators by Ken Loach, which powerfully shows the effects of change in an organisation. A fictional story set in the 1980s and charting the fortunes of a group of railway engineers, The Navigators illustrates some of the tough issues that organisations are facing at the moment.  It shows how the way in which changes are made can have a huge impact on the end result; and it painfully demonstrates how things can go wrong when communication, the vital oil of business, breaks down. What I found most disturbing was how the frontline manager was caught between the senior management, which was seemingly unaware of the concept of employee engagement, and the engineers, who saw all management as the enemy and not to be trusted.

Back to the real world and the good news is that by keeping a view of the whole picture, appreciating what difficulties managers are facing and communicating clearly and meaningfully, good HR professionals are worth their weight in gold if they can help to smooth the process, provide appropriate support and transform employees’ experiences of change.

From my experience of helping companies deliver the benefits of change, here are five of my top tips:

·         early and consistent communication is essential and will drive trust and honesty: even if people don’t like the message, they’ll respect the honesty

·         when people go through change they will act in strange and wonderful ways; letting them know that this is OK helps

·         remind line mangers that they have to experience the change within themselves as well as supporting others through it

·         find every opportunity to remind people of the vision of the future: this will help the  message to stay consistent and will maintain a focus on the right stuff

·         change shouldn’t  just be about ‘going through the process’ and you need to help people let go of the past and embrace the future.  Imagine being frozen in 1960 and waking up in 2011: you would be living in the present but your mindset would still linger in the past

It’s possible for us to be at our best when facing problems or challenges. People are an organisation’s biggest asset and humans are capable of amazing things if their talent is nurtured, their creativity encouraged and the right support given to them in the right way and at the right time.

About the author

Jill loves working with the team at Rambutan helping people to think, lead and communicate brilliantly in order to achieve business, team or personal goals. Before joining the Rambutan bunch, Jill was part of the HR Consultancy Team at University College London. Her previous management experience in both the public and private sector means she has seen how great HR support can make a real difference to individual managers and organisations as a whole

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 10^th February and will be written by HR recruitment specialist Ed Scrivener. 

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