How to Overcome Resistance to Change in Workflows

Workflow processes are the sequential tasks that are completed to execute a business process. These tasks may have the same repeated steps each time, but what happens when a project manager would like to re-evaluate their team’s workflow and introduce new changes to the process? A common outcome can be an employee’s resistance to change, meaning their unwillingness to adapt to altered circumstances. Change is inevitable within every organization; however, having employees who are opposed to new changes within workflow processes can be a major setback and this needs to be dealt with carefully in order to be successful with project management. 1. Losing a comfortable routine: most employees may already be comfortable with their current routines, so changing the process may affect confidence levels in performance. 2. Poor timing and planning: some changes may be introduced at an awkward time or during an insensitive manner. While some employees may agree with the new change, they may not be on board with how the change is going to be done. 3. Lack of competence: changing new aspects within the workflow may cause employees to doubt their capabilities to perform their new duties or adapt to new work requirements. 4. Job loss: these changes can involve new streamlines, faster turnaround times, efficiency, etc. So, some employees may have the fear that roles can be eliminated or reduced if they’re task is no longer needed in the new process. 5. Office Politics: some employees resist change as a strategy to prove that the new implementations would be a wrong choice. They may also be committed to seeing the new changes fail. Although it may be easier for most employees to live within the comfort of their normal day-to-day routine, change always happens, and is very common within the finance sector. Organizations that have the ability to manage change with ease will have the upper hand over their competition. In order to have more confidence in your team while implementing new changes, here are some effective ways to add changes within workflow processes. 1. Engage with the team members opposed to change: see what their concerns are and try to alleviate the problem in a timely manner. This can help assure the team member that their input matters. 2. Implement the changes in stages: teams should first prepare the change, then take action on the change and make a plan for managing the change, and lastly, support the change and assure that all is going as planned. 3. Communicate the change effectively: make sure to keep all members in the loop of the changes that are going on. No matter the communication outlet (email, intranet, town halls, etc.) let the message get across the company. Having several ways to communicate the new changes can set goals and expectations for what needs to happen and why. Once a team has identified their new workflow, and the rest of the team is on board with the new changes, then all that is left is to execute the workflow. Although, making sure that it is being executed properly can be a tedious task, if multiple steps are taken at once. To simplify this issue, TRIYO can help. TRIYO’s project management system can provide an organized workflow process, along with many other features. With our innovative project management tool, users have the ability to create teams across diverse groups, and assign tasks and accountabilities to different members of the team. Project Managers will have full control within approval tracking and see a clear audit trail of changes. Teams will be able to track and respond to tasks through their native email platform, allowing users to continue to work with their existing tools that they are accustomed to. To learn more about how TRIYO can suit your team’s specific needs, fill out the contact form below.