[00:00:00] Kate: Hi. Hi. Welcome to this week's episode of The New Way. I think that trends are fascinating. You know, the way they form, you know, the cultural and economic influences of it all, the role that innovation and creativity play together, and how ideas kind of resonate and grow in popularity.
I think it's fascinating. Don't you? I've probably just exposed myself as a huge nerd there, but, I mean, I guess it's true. Anyway, I find trends fascinating and today I wanna share some of the biggest trends that I think change managers need to keep in mind this year. Now as we go through the four trends that I want to talk about with you, I have a feeling like you would've heard these before, but you may not have thought about how each trend is going to impact your work in really [00:02:00] real practical ways.
These trends are relevant to every industry and all kinds of organisational change. And I'm also convinced that not considering each of these trends in your change strategy and your change approach is gonna mean that your change program is going to be less likely to succeed. I know that's a big statement to make, but I'm putting it out there. These ideas that I'm gonna share with you are the result of my own experiences over the past year, the conversations I've had with clients, the conversations I've had with team members and the collective sticky situations and challenges they're facing.
And of course all of the wins that we've each individually and collectively had and of course all of the conversations that I've had with world class experts, and many of those you can go back and listen to because they were here on the podcast recorded for you. My goal with this episode is to share how these trends are going to impact change management efforts this year, and to share a bunch of practical suggestions that you can incorporate into your change strategy and tactics, all of that kind of thing that you can use, and to inspire you to think about how each of these trends and to make sure that you're really on the front foot and you know, managing these impacts in a proactive way.
Now let me also say the last trend that I'm gonna mention today, I think it's the most important one and it's probably something that you're not thinking about right now. You definitely should be. So stick with me till the end of the episode so you don't miss it. Okay, let's get started.
The first big trend to watch is around remote work and digital transformation. It's not what you think. Look, I know that this feels like old news, but it's still an important trend that's gonna continue to evolve this year, in fact, because of the way that Covid 19 really accelerated everyone moving into remote work. Then now combining that with Covid [00:04:00] 19 fatigue, the way that government guidelines have dramatically relaxed and the rise of hybrid working, I think it's reasonable to expect that the ways that people and teams work in the organisation that you are supporting, well, I think it's gonna continue to evolve this year, and this constantly evolving context presents new challenges and opportunities for change managers to really effectively manage and support those remote teams and geographically dispersed team. Of course at this point, we all know, you know, the key tools and the tactics to build into our change management strategy to help communicate and collaborate with people that are all over Australia and all over the planet.
I'm talking about things like, you know, effectively using digital communication tools and collaboration platforms using video conferencing, instant messaging, checking in regularly, you know, those virtual team building activities that you've been doing and of course, setting and communicating clear expectations with everyone involved so that you can really facilitate communication and collaboration with all of your remote stakeholders.
All of those things can help foster a sense of connectedness. And this idea of connectedness is something I really want to call out because I think that we're gonna see a really growing desire for connection among stakeholders this year, no matter what organisation, you know, no matter what the change is, no matter who your stakeholders, I think this is a trend that everyone is gonna see.
and I think this is something that is especially relevant to change managers now, even with all of the digital collaboration tools that we've all been using every day. When it comes down to it, I'm betting that many of the stakeholders who are impacted by the change initiative that you are supporting, I reckon they're still feeling isolated, lonely, disconnected, and finding ways to help make your stakeholders feel a true sense of connection to their organisation, to their [00:06:00] colleagues, and to the change program, all of that is gonna be critical to the success of your change initiative this year. I really think this is such an important consideration for the success of your change initiative right now.
I'm actually gonna do a more in-depth episode exploring this idea really soon, but for now, I recommend asking yourself, how can I help build opportunities to foster more genuine connection into our change approach? Now, there's lots of ways to do this. Maybe it's test labs or introducing road shows or workshops, competitions, coffee carts, visualising your work in different ways, hosting in real life experiences. All of that can create connections but of course the best mix of strategies and tactics is gonna depend on the characteristics of your organisation, your understanding of your stakeholders, and the goals of the change program, and being able to analyse the context and recommend just the right mix of tailored tactics is of course, why your specialised change management skillset is so valuable to the project.
So the second big trend that I'm seeing that's gonna impact change managers this year is around employee wellbeing. The emphasis on wellbeing at work is really growing, and I've noticed organisations of all sizes across, I'm gonna say all industries, I was gonna say a range, but really all industries are looking for ways to support, you know, the physical, mental, and emotional health of their employees.
And I bet now that I've said this, that's something that you've noticed too, right? This trend is definitely going to impact organisational change programs more and more this year because employers and employees expectations around this stuff is shifting. So what does that mean for you? If you are leading an organisational change initiative right now, I recommend you get on the front foot with this.
You've got to be proactive when it comes to [00:08:00] addressing wellbeing concerns as part of your change management strategies. Now, if this is something you haven't thought of before, I'm gonna share some practical ideas and ways that you can incorporate wellbeing into your change planning. First up, ask yourself if your change management approach helps to promote work-life balance for employees and for other stakeholders.
For example, look at your scheduling. Consider the sequencing of your change efforts, the pace of change that you are recommending. Is it reasonable given what you know about the needs and the pressures that your stakeholders are already facing when they're at work? Is it likely to cause disruption to people's personal lives?
Does your plan align with flexible work policies? Does it minimize stress for impacted folks? Reviewing your change strategy and plans through the lens of those questions is going to help you craft and approach that really help support employee wellbeing. we all know that even if your approach really promotes healthy work-life balance, well, change can still bring up a lot of big emotions for folks, right?
That's why the next practical action that I recommend is thinking about how you can incorporate specialist wellbeing support to help your stakeholders through the change journey.
So this might include introducing and promoting or kind of bulking up an in existing employee assistance program. It might look like offering access to special mental health resources through the change program. It might include incorporating a series of training sessions for impacted stakeholders on managing stress and including that in your change plan and it should definitely include making sure that managers have got the right tools, everything they need to support their team members through the change.
Now, one other thing, I'm guessing that your change strategy already includes [00:10:00] plans to capture employee feedback, you know, throughout the change journey, like any good change strategy does, and that can be another great way to promote wellbeing considerations.
This can help to identify and address any wellbeing concerns in a really timely manner at each stage of your change initiatives, so that you can keep an eye on things and make sure that the change process is supporting the wellbeing of all of the stakeholders as you go along.
Okey dokey. Let's turn our attention to the third big trend that you have got to be thinking about this year, and that is artificial intelligence and automation. everyone's talking about it, and I can't think of an industry where AI and automation aren't rapidly transforming things. Can you?
organisations are really seeking to leverage and build upon those technologies to incorporate them so that they can become more efficient, they can reduce costs, drive innovation, all of that kind of stuff. So it makes sense that change managers are gonna need to be really familiar with these technologies and understand their potential impacts on work processes, on stakeholders, on the workforce at large.
Now, there's lots of ways that this trend could impact you this year. For example, AI and automation could be a core feature of the change initiative that you are helping to. Maybe the change program that you're working on is all about streamlining and automating certain tasks, or maybe it's about introducing tools to help capture insights um, those insights are gonna support decision making and innovation, that kind of thing. Perhaps you're supporting a change program that involves up-leveling in system support. You know, maybe in the organisation's financial system or perhaps on their internet. AI and smart automation is likely to be involved in all of those projects.
if you are in the change management space and you're supporting the rollout of AI tools like this, there's a lot for you to think about. [00:12:00] Obviously, the impact on your stakeholders is a really big one. For example, what is the impact of AI driven customer service interactions gonna be on the workforce if you are establishing that as part of an online system? It also means that you may need to completely rethink your approach to training and capability uplift. So you really need to make sure that you are up to speed with all of these new AI tools as they're coming onto the market. I'm not gonna dive too much more into this here now, but this is such an important trend, that I recently did an in-house training session for my team on the ways that folks in change management can use things like ChatGPT to make life easier.
As part of that training, we created a 33 page deck, and it's kind of like the ultimate cheat sheet for our team. It includes the exact prompts and formulas that I've been using and recommend. It includes success guidelines so you can get the most out of ChatGPT and 10 practical use cases and scenarios to kind of prompt thinking and demonstrate right in front of you ways that you can use this tool if you're in the change management space.
I think that there is such a strong competitive advantage to knowing this stuff and a huge opportunity to be a leader on this topic in the market right now. And so I wanna share the complete deck with you totally for free, so you can take advantage of it too. So you can go download your copy of that deck by heading to everchange.com.au/ai. That's all you need to do, everchange.com.au/ai. And then on that page, just pop your details into the box on that page, and I'll send you the deck straightaway so you can check it out.
I also recently did an episode focusing entirely on AI and how it's impacting change management and in that I specifically shared a bunch of [00:14:00] practical ways that you can use ChatGPT if you wanna get a little taster of it. This is a topic I strongly recommend that you get across so you're not left behind okay. so I'm gonna make sure that we link to that episode in the show notes so you can easily go listen to that if you haven't already.
let's move on and look at the last crucial trend for change managers to keep in mind this year, and that's all about sustainability. This is a big one. Okay, so, Supporting environmental sustainability is really becoming a critical business issue, and I see organisations all different kinds trying to figure out ways to reduce their environmental impact and increase their positive social impact as well.
Change managers are going to need to incorporate sustainability considerations into change management plans and ensure that changes are aligned with the organisation's sustainability goals. This is really important. Frankly, you know, this is a trend that I am seeing much more of in the private and commercial space across industries.
Not so much in the public sector yet, but I'm sure it's coming and you definitely want to be on the front foot with this if you are currently supporting government clients. This is about being aware of the organisation's sustainability goals and making sure that your change management plans are aligned no matter what change you're introducing. Whether it's helping to roll out an ERP or implement, uh, an organisational restructure. Maybe it's introducing new values and behaviors, anything like that.
I think there are a few things that everyone in the team can do to help make sure that your change management approach helps to reduce environmental impact and to increase positive social impact at the same time.
First up, as part of the planning phase, change managers can set agreed sustainability focused goals and principles for the project. So these might be [00:16:00] principles like committing to a digital-first approach. So any workbooks or guides or anything like that, they're always digital, they're never printed.
Another principle might be about always seeking to minimise waste, which you could totally gamify by the way, or promoting environmentally friendly travel practices. If the change initiative that you are supporting includes any type of physical refresh of devices, tools, reference materials, office equipment, building materials, anything physical at all, I strongly recommend that you think about how you can incorporate and promote a recycling program as part of the change journey.
The change team can also implement green procurement policies so that the project users, environmentally friendly products and services, or only procures goods and services from certified B Corp or carbon neutral suppliers and that can also help to reduce the environmental impact of the change process as well.
I dunno if I've told you this, but ever change in communication is now a certified carbon neutral company. We're so excited about that. It's so cool. It really feels like, you know, the most important thing that we've done for a while, and I especially love that everyone on the team feels really very personally aligned with it as well, which is just amazing.
It's so cool. like I said, even if you don't think this is relevant to your change initiative yet, I promise that it will become more and more important. Stakeholders and constituents are demanding more transparency in supply chains and the vast majority of Australians, in fact, 83% of Australians are worried about climate change.
And of those 72% of Australians believe that the federal. Has a reasonable degree of power to influence climate change through decisions made. Now those stats are from a 2022 climate change report, and I'll make sure that we link that report in the show notes for you so you can check out [00:18:00] all the details.
It is very interesting reading, and I think it's reasonable to assume that soon, that ability to influence climate change through decisions made, I think it's reasonable to assume that that is going to include decisions made about the goals, the principles, and the procurement decisions about significant organisational change programs inside government as well.
So again, if you are supporting a government client, and this hasn't come up for you yet, I really think you need to be on the front foot with it. I told you that last trend, I told you it was gonna be a biggie . So there you have it. Four big trends that you need to be watching out for this year. These really are non-negotiables as far as I'm concerned.
If you want the change initiative that you are delivering to be successful in 2023. You must be considering about how you can help create a greater sense of connectedness, between your stakeholders. You must be considering the impact of the change approach on employee wellbeing. You have got to have an understanding about the impact of AI and how you can be using tools like ChatGPT to your advantage.
You should definitely head over to everchange.com.au/ai right now. Go grab your free copy of that deck that I use for our in-house training. and finally, you've got to make sure that your incorporating genuine sustainability efforts into your change plan cannot be about greenwashing stuff. You've gotta be doing it genuine.
I hope that you've really enjoyed this chat and I that it's really given you some food for thought. I hope that you are super excited to go and review your change plans using some of the prompts that I've suggested, and perhaps even then adding in some of the practical tactics that I've suggested in this episode as well.
If you found this useful. I would love you to please take a screenshot of the podcast right now, uh, wherever you are, if you're driving the car out for a walk, whatever you're doing, and shoot it to a friend that you think would [00:20:00] enjoy it to. That way we can all be learning and talking about these big ideas together.
Thank you so, so, so, so, so much for joining me today. and I can't wait to connect with you again next week.