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Q:  How do you minimize employee resistance to change?
 
Complete Question
I know you've done a lot of 'reengineering projects', so I want to ask your advice. I'm struggling with selecting an internal project leader for our planned reengineering and I was wondering what skills will be most important. What is the most difficult part to get done, the process redesign or coordinating the technology projects that will be part of the reengineering?
 
There's a third component, often referred to as 'change management', but that really means 'people management'. While the typical reengineering modifications relate primarily to the process and the tools, it is the 'people' about which you need be most concerned. The changes are going to have a direct and dramatic impact on how people perform their work. It is a natural reaction to resist change and you should expect lots of it. However, don't let resistance sway you from implementing the right process model and (enabling) toolset.
 
The key to successful reengineering is employee acceptance. It is just as important as the reengineering plan itself. There are a number of proven techniques that can be employed to minimize resistance and help the organization work through it when it occurs. Here are a few guidelines:

• Get people involved in the change process. The more you can make this 'their plan', the more acceptance you'll get. The key is to get them involved early and allow them to work out as many of the details as possible. With the right guidance, your people will make good decisions and create plans that are equal to (or even better) than management. However, the critical difference is that they will embrace the idea if they are allowed to come up with it...they will resist it if management imposes it on them.
• Provide some training and/or facilitation to those involved. I've found that many large companies now have "Change Management" as a standard training program offered through their HR or Training organization. Sometimes it is internally developed and presented, other times they use outside resources. My preferred approach is to provide one level of training/facilitation to the management team (prepares them and provides skills for dealing with resistance) and another level for the 'troops' (helps them deal with change and become positive contributors). If your company does not currently have this training capability, there are 'Change Management' trainers and consultants that can help you.
• Communicate, communicate, and communicate. One of the biggest challenges related to change management is dealing with rumors and/or fear about what exactly will happen. The solution is to keep everyone informed and up to date. As part of your effort, assign someone (or a team) to handle communications. Create a website on your intranet. Send out a weekly email newsletter. Set up a bulletin board in the lunchroom and post a hard copy of the weekly newsletter, the project plan, and other key information. When it comes to managing change, you can't communicate too much.