So when ever it comes to changes in an organization, I tend to try and see the positive, the reward I will get from adopting to the change, which motivates me to actually "play along" and I feel it is much easier on me this way.
As a leader, I would probably use a similar approach to introducing change. I would most likely use Lewin's Model with a pull strategy. (description of pull-strategy)
Kurt Lewin 1890-1947
In order to successfully implement a change, let's assume I have 3 employees and I want them to rotate their job's every 3 months. The benefit to me is that all 3 employees are proficient in all three jobs and if an employee is off work because of an illness or vacation - the other two can chip in. This change would obviously mean that an employee now only performs "his/her job" 3 months and is performing another job the next 6 months.
1. Step - Unfreeze
At first I would promote the upcoming change. I would let my team know what is coming, when this new rotation will start, why I am doing this and, most important, what is in it for them.
Possible rewards can be less boredom or better chances for career advancement. As the manager I should probably know all three positions very well, so by rotating jobs, my employees will get to know what the whole department is doing, not just what they are doing.
I would possibly allow them to gain external education in the jobs they haven't done before. This can be valuable within or outside the organization in the future.
2. Step - Change
The change phase would probably take 6 months in this case. Each employee has to get used to a new job when performing it for the first time. So the first two rotations will be creating some challenges and help from outside the department might be required. (For example on-the-job training, other employees within the company need to be patient,...)
3. Step - Freezing
Once the first cycle is done (after 6 months) each employee will be back at his/her original job for 3 month. During this time it will be important to emphasize the successes of the past 6 months. It will be important to stress that this program will continue and the next rotation has to happen after 3 months again.
An example when I faced changes in an organization is when I used to work as an Aircraft mechanic. The company I worked for did not have a lot of money to use as incentives for employees and had to find a way to motivate more mechanics to work more night shifts. The night shift pay-rate wasn't very good compared to other companies, so nobody really liked to work more nights than he or she absolutely had to.
The company then came up with a smart idea that was based on the pull strategy:
Two new mechanics teams with supervisors were formed that would only work night shifts, no other shifts. Sounds like a terrible deal, doesn't it?
The trick was, the teams would work 7 nights straight and then get 7 days off. This means every single week, employees would earn an extra day off, while still getting the same base salary and the night shift money for every night worked.
This was now a very attractive schedule, because all other groups schedules also changed, with lesser night shifts, but with shift changes during a work week. Before the change a group would work 5 days early shift, then 2 days off, 5 days late shift + 2 days off and 5 night shifts + 2 days off. The two days were barely enough to get adjusted to the next shift, but at least we only had to work night shift every 3 weeks.
Well, the new schedule asked for 3 early shifts, 2 late shifts and 2 days off. Then the opposite next week. This made adjusting to shifts less favorable and the newly created team even more attractive.
Many mechanics ended up joining the "night shift only teams" and it was deemed a great success.
I would like to end this Blog entry with another funny video. After all the theory I posted, here is something before you go:
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