Executives often hope their own communication skills will be sufficient for winning the support of employees for hard times of transition. Here, however, arguments are usually not enough.
Read cues of anxiety and opposition
Resistance tends to be based on emotions. Furthermore, since many people think the key trait of professionalism is not to display emotions at work, employees may not even express their negative feelings. People managing change need to be able to read subtle, non-verbal cues.
If you realise you need to deal with hidden opposition, talking to people in an excessively optimistic manner is never a solution. Don’t insist on positivity. If a difficult transition is taking place, you need to see to it that people confront real problems. You also need to ensure corrective actions are taken; otherwise, unresolved issues pile up and this makes any efforts at change futile.
One example
An article on the website of the INSEAD business school tells a story experienced by its researchers during a friendly cross-border acquisition. A certain large company wanted to acquire a small company active in the CRM sector.
Researchers conducted numerous interviews with managers and on-site observations, plus a review of selected e-mail correspondence and internal publications. At the beginning, both companies saw the value of collaboration. The large company wanted the unique local know-how, while the small company wanted finally to gain the resources necessary for large projects.
Even though everything might look fine at the beginning of such an acquisition, ultimately things could turn out badly. In the second part of the article, we will take a look at the reasons why.
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