Workbook

Manager Essentials:
Change Management
Strategies
Change is hard for most humans. We like information and certainty.
Without it, we tend to default to either fight-or-flight mode. This is why
73% of change-affected employees report experiencing moderate to
high stress levels. And there’s more change in the workplace now, rather
than less. The average employee experienced 10 planned enterprise
changes in 2022, versus just two in 2016.
But there’s good news — the more the brain can predict and make
sense of what is happening, the less threatened it feels. So, by
acknowledging the inevitability of change and developing the right
mindset to manage our reaction to it, we can stay in the right mindset to
face new experiences. There are considerable payoffs; when managers
can help their teams develop the ability to navigate through change
themselves, they protect their own performance and sustainable
employee performance increases by 29%.
As a manager, you will often be at the forefront of change, whether
you’re one of the first groups to hear about new initiatives or you’re
responsible for communicating change to your team. This workbook will
give you tools and tactics to make change management less challenging
and more effective for you and your team.
A 4-step approach
to change management
With practice, we can take a more fact-based and less emotional approach
to dealing with change. This can help us manage anxiety and handle change
in a more even-keeled manner. And we can help our teams to learn these
habits, too. Fill out the prompts in this workbook to take your first steps
toward tackling change head-on.

1.
Be ready for anything
In times of change, you will often need to act swiftly, even in the face of
ambiguity. Creating a decision-making framework or guiding principles
can help you prepare for anything. For example, you can choose to focus
on the present and approach change as an opportunity for innovation and
evolution. You might not know everything, and that’s okay, but you should
know where to look to find answers.

Start with a day-one hypothesis. As soon as you know that you need to adapt to
a significant new situation, create a hypothesis for the solution. With what you
know currently about an expected change in your company or team, how can
you find a solution to best adapt? Use this initial idea to kickoff transformation
conversations, but be open to building onto the plan as you gather more
information about what the change will mean for you and your team.

Manager Essentials: Change Management Strategies 2

Ask yourself what you need to believe about the potential of your hypothesis to
create a successful outcome. If a deciding factor is unknown, how can you use
the information you have about the current state of things to make a realistic
prediction for the future?

Manager Essentials: Change Management Strategies 3

2.
Review existing processes
Asking your team to cope with significant change is likely to cause some
stress. You can help employees overcome these stressors be rexamining
your team’s existing resources and processes. This will help them see the
benefits that can come from a transformation, such as streamlining a once-
cumbersome process. Common change management frameworks can also
offer helpful guidance to identify and implement new processes.

Lewin’s Change Management Model is a 3-step exercise to help prepare

employees for change, execute on the change, and integrate the change into an
organizational structure. In this exercise, we’ll use the first stage of the model to
review current process.
Lewin’s Stage 1: Unfreeze
In this first stage, a team or organization must unfreeze its current process to
prepare for the upcoming change. Outline a plan below to gather employees’
opinions on current processes.

Next, share your proposed hypothesis from step 1 of this workbook with
your team and gather their reactions to the proposal. Note employee
feedback below. Include any ideas or information employees shared that
you may have missed when creating your hypothesis.

Manager Essentials: Change Management Strategies 4

3.
Communicate often
The success of organizational change requires continual communication
with all levels of employees from senior management to frontline workers,
according to McKinsey research. Creating open dialogue opportunities
about the why and how of a change helps employees understand the
positive outcomes likely to come as a result of the slight discomfort
necessary to achieve a transformation. Commit to frequent and ongoing
communication across many formats to ensure your team feels well-
informed during the change process.

What are the different channels you will use to communicate change with
employees? These might include one-on-ones, team meetings, email updates,
and company internal messaging platforms.

Change doesn’t always happen all at once. If a change involves phases or levels
of confidentiality, be as open as possible about the pieces you can share. How
will you communicate a multi-phased change to your team? How will you maintain
transparency and authenticity when you cannot share details?

Manager Essentials: Change Management Strategies 5

4.
Gather feedback regularly
Feedback works best when it’s integrated into your everyday work. During
times of change, it’s essential to give your team the chance to share their
feedback. Not only does this boost employee engagement and morale, but
it allows you to identify pain points before they become larger issues.

When and how will you ask for feedback from your team throughout the change
process? Consider open feedback in team meetings and one-on-ones, or allow
for anonymous feedback through digital platforms.

What will you do with the feedback you receive? Create a system for collecting
and processing what you hear from your team so you can bubble up recurring
themes or issues to your own manager, company leadership, or other teams that
may be able to mitigate the problems you identify.

Manager Essentials: Change Management Strategies 6

Prepare your team
to take on any change
with confidence
Over 70% of change management efforts fail, according to
McKinsey. However, the top reasons for failure are within our
controls — low employee engagement, lack of management
support, and poor collaboration. The skills you’ve been practicing
in this workbook will help get your team on board with change and
see success in transformation programs. When employees are
invested in change, it’s much more likely to stick.
You can help your organization prepare to take on change by
training managers to be more adept at change management
and other essential leadership skills. Strengthen your company’s
leadership development programs with Udemy Business.

Manager Essentials: Change Management Strategies 7

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