To remain competitive, any organization should constantly develop and evolve. Organizational change is one of the key elements of success and personnel’s training is one of the central components of the change. However, employees are often reluctant to adjust to new settings. Employees also tend to pay little attention to the information associated with the change. This is when a thought leader can inspire the employees to get involved into the process of the change.
In the first place, it is necessary to engage a thought leader. This should be an active and creative employee (a HR professional). The thought leader should be aware of the goals of the change and all the details related to it (Crow, 2012). Once the goals are set, the thought leader is ready to take the next step. Spiro (2011) stresses that leaders should always bring together key players to enable the entire staff to get involved.
Thus, the thought leader should know which employees are the most active and engaged. These people should be flexible and ready to change. The thought leader should be able to listen carefully to the key players’ expectations and possible fears (Crow, 2012).
These expectation and fears are usually shared by all the members of the staff. The thought leader should create the necessity, i.e. he/she should explain the benefits of the change and set the goals. The leader should be consistent and persistent while outlining peculiarities of the change to the group of the key players.
Finally, the leader along with the group of key players is ready to develop a training program for the employees. Of course, the training should not be confined to a lecture on the aspects of the upcoming change. There should be a number of training sessions. These sessions should be really dynamic and the thought leader should engage each member of the staff (TED, 2009).
Of course, the training sessions should not take too much time and employers should not be distracted from doing their job all the time. It is possible to launch discussions and even games or role plays to make the employees understand all the details related to the change.
Admittedly, the news concerning the change is often accepted negatively. People are often afraid of changes. Therefore, the thought leader should first create the need in the change. Therefore, the training sessions may start with discussing existing problems and analyzing some hazardous situations. The thought leader should point out that next sessions will help the employees come up with solutions.
More so, each employee can get a home assignment (to solve some issues related to the work and the upcoming change). The assignments cannot be in a form of a report, some creative tasks should be provided.
Thus, the employees will be encouraged to attend the following sessions as they will be expecting to get the right solutions. This strategy addresses one more problem, i.e. employees’ reluctance to attend the training sessions. Of course, there should be assessment, but it can be held in a form of a game or during outdoor teambuilding activities.
To sum up, the thought leader can help the organization evolve. The thought leader can introduce specific changes and run training sessions. However, it is important to take certain steps, i.e. form a group of key players, create the necessity among the employees and develop creative training and assessment. This will enable the employees to accept the change and contribute to the organization’s development.
Reference List
Crow, T. (2012). Keys to engaging thought leaders. Education Week Teacher. Web.
Spiro, J. (2011). Leading change step-by-step: Tactics, tools, and tales. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
TED. (2009). Bill Gates: Mosquitos, malaria and education. Web.