How do I – manage negativity to change?

I tended to find that it was one or two individuals in the team who were the most disruptive (the “team stooges” as you refer to them).

I tended to spend more time with these team members to get them on side, but it was only when I was able to restructure the teams that I had best impact.
A slow down in the economy makes it much easier to make troublesome team members redundant and improve overall team performance. It worked quite well for me following the last slowdown in 2001.

I must admit that I had never through of putting them in positions of responsibility on the change programme as this appears to be counter-intuitive.

Would this really work?

James’ comment above represents a management approach which is all too common.

Why wait to make them redundant? Why not use performance management processes to help them correct their behaviour?

Performance management is tough, but it’s an essential part of management, surely?

And if the stooges continue to be disruptive and not part of the team, it’s the job of management to help them make a decision to go and work elsewhere.

or have I missed something?

and as for giving the stooges responsibility – that could work, provided they have very clear objectives, are managed well and are made fully accountable for their allotted tasks.

There are risks attached of course – there may be impressionable people in the team who are not currently disruptive – but when they see that by being so, you are ‘recognised’ and given more responsibility….. they might learn that disruptive is ‘good’.

enough from me.

Change is a fantastic thing if introduced correctly.
At all stages a forum of team members (not team leaders all the time ) should be consulted and given the opportunity to voice their valuable input before any decisions are made. All members of the teams should be given the chance to attend these meetings on a rotational basis( No favourites all the time ) and have the opportunity to refer to their team members. Avoiding the opinionated is a massive mistake to avoid confrontation. This way the workforce have the ownership in agreeing with management on the best way forward and everyone has had input. “A Successful All Round Solution”

Thanks for all you do in helping me fulfill my dreams.,

this website is full of knowledge regarding how to react to change but it involves team or it is for leadership but what about personel motivation or react to personal maters change

One thing’s for sure, and that’s that everyone responds differently to change. Therefore the same change management rules cannot apply to every situation.

This is a great article and a hot topic. You’d think that the masses would embrace change, stop being scared of it and understand the necessity for it. Sadly it’s not the case and managers continue in their quest to pacify the habitual moaners.

I’ve had both good and bad change management experiences.
I just want to mention my most recent change management experience because it was like hell on earth.

I started working for a well established company to set up a call centre to complement its existing operations. I adopted an existing customer satisfaction team who immediately resented my arrival due to me being an ‘outsider’ (and they made no bones about this fact). The company was already undergoing many changes due to the arrival of a new MD who was rapidly dragging the business into the 21st Century with quick and decisive decisions that left some redundant and others monitored & accountable for the first time in their career.

I tried all the usual methods associated with introducing new processes such as: total openness, transparency, and daily verbal communications explaining where we’re at and what the next steps would be right down to me getting stuck into answering the phone, making the calls, selling additional products and leading from the front. In addition to that, I introduced a bonus scheme that enabled earnings to rocket. It wasn’t working, there was still a huge amount of resistance but I carried on.

Next step was to performance manage. One person walked and the next person dug their heels in further still, making my work life very tough as this person had a small group of friends around the rest of the business to share her annoyance with.

I looked everywhere for advice and help but this situation appeared unique so I had to continue persevering with the approach I’d chosen.

The next milestone was to recruit additional suitable people for the role, show them the ropes and the new systems and hope that those remaining followed suit. Six months on, it worked. It was a mentally straining six months to introduce a lot of new systems; but systems that will ensure this business thrives long into the future, irrespective of the economic downturn.

Change is good but it does have to be handled appropriately; change must never be underestimated and change should always be handled with care.

Thanks Darren, your article has helped me. I am working for an organization where the management informs only its favorites about updates & changes. We come to know only when a big bomshell hits us. We do become sad but we don’t react. To retain our jobs we obey blindly. However, now I have realised that management also has problems in handling us. So, now i will not be sad if i am not informed & suddenly told to take different type of calls or suddenly realize that new policies have come up. Again thanks Darren for changing my outlook.

Dear :
Am working in an inbound call center of a multinational company telecommunication , since 2009 mid the new CEO due to resection did some cost cutting & therefore the call center started doing up-selling , the pressure became too much on the agent,s & they have started getting Ill & disturbed in there home lives too & in the consequences fake selling started & this started damaging the customer , I as an average Agent & being in the list of top sellers kept on informing the management that there are many things going wrong specially in selling but they ignored me & the pressure kept on increasing & to a point that it became now an revenue based call center .
I had to take a step & went directly to the manager & told him that fake up-selling had being going on in the call center & that would damage the image of the company as well as all the customers will port of of our network too to the other networks & they wont have faith on OUR Company ,
they putted some do,s & Don,ts but the pressure for the selling is still there & they need the sales for the target they have already given to the CEO .
what should i do plz guide me some one with a good plan of marketing in which we can generate revenue as well as the Agents gets relax too .
Would be desperately waiting for the reply .

Change is especially difficult to deal with inside an organization. It leads to certain complications and confusion for employees. To facilitate this step, we called Manager Max. After completing a change audit, they turned in into a humorous show to address the issues. This revives your team with motivation!