A successful change management process depends on a people-centered approach. While change management takes on many forms—at the department level to enterprise-wide—it’s the people that have to adjust to and adopt the changes.
How community managers guide new procedures impacts employee well-being and retention rates. This is important, considering that, when surveyed, 24% of employees said they would quit their jobs due to not feeling valued — a good reason for supporting staff as change occurs.
That’s where your ESN data and analysis comes in. As initiatives occur, community managers can monitor social networking engagement to identify (and correct) shifts in community morale or new employee satisfaction.
Here’s how an ESN analytics tool can help you transform your change management process to get everyone on board as their roles and responsibilities change.
Manage sudden change effectively
Any change that comes down the pipeline causes some level of disruption. Unexpected change can feel more like crisis management than change management.
Shifting a workforce from in-office to working-from-home is the perfect example—a reality that has tested people’s mettle worldwide.
Analyzing your social network data during sudden change-events allows you to see in real-time how your change management is working—how employees are adjusting, and who may need assistance.
Tap into ESN data for change-influencer help
Your social network data can be a beyond-valuable resource as staff navigates change. When orgs implement new initiatives, there's a natural tendency to lean on leadership structure to get employees on board.
However, community influencers can have a significant impact on employee engagement and change adoption. More importantly, social network analysis can reveal not-so-obvious, highly effective change influencers.
Identifying an in-the-trenches influencer—someone employees trust—to share change information and gather feedback can improve acceptance rates, suggests McKinsey’s Keller and Schaninger. Also, “Leaders frequently find the results surprising because influence patterns rarely reflect organizational charts” (McKinsey).
Break down communication silos
Enterprise social networking continues to affect how people communicate within the organization. It wasn’t too long ago that department communications were somewhat insular, if not guarded.
Enterprise social networks (like Workplace, Yammer, and Teams) have created a way for people in any department and at any level in the organization to communicate and collaborate.
Moreover, when it comes to change management, analyzing ESN data helps community managers create transparency between departments, leadership, and staff.
In other words, at a time when communication matters most—when change is happening—the ESN insights break down the corporate silos.
Boost communication between departments
For example, when a change is in the works, managers can monitor engagement across departments (e.g., between marketing and sales) to ensure that communication flows freely.
With an instant-read on ESN engagement, change managers can identify a drop in engagement and give team leaders the information they need to bolster their community.
Build connections between leadership and employees
Organizational change is an expected part of doing business—from kicking off a project to implementing new technology. To succeed, leadership must support employees through the transition.
Community managers can guide these valuable connections with help from ESN data.
By using a benchmarking feature, you can analyze executive-employee interactions and engagement. The information you gather allows you to provide useful, data-based feedback to leaders. In turn, they become part of the change, ensuring employee satisfaction, and the initiatives’ success.
Conclusion
Any time there’s a change within the workplace—large, small, or unexpected—how the initiatives are managed affects the results.
Ultimately, at the heart of successful change management are the employees whose work changes—from their daily responsibilities to how they perceive their job role.
ESN analytics will allow you to implement change and monitor the results. At the same time, you have the change management tools you need to cultivate a robust, adaptable, and engaged workforce.