Effective Change Management Practices in Call Centers

Change fatigue is a phenomenon that can significantly impact business and culture. It’s a symptom of ineffective change management practices. The good news? There’s a cure. Our complimentary eBook includes valuable tips to improve your contact center operations.

Success Strategies to Manage and Navigate Change in Your Contact Center

Learn How to Recharge Your Employees and Communicate Change for Effective Leadership

INTRODUCTION

Understanding the impact of change fatigue in the workplace How to recognize fatigue in your people Ways to circumnavigate and reduce the risk of change fatigue

What is Change Fatigue? Change Fatigue is a general sense of apathy or weariness about organizational changes within a business or department. Change fatigue can manifest at all levels of the organization in many ways. It may present as feelings of resignation or indifference. Resistance and burnout may also occur. When these symptoms continue, stress levels rise and negativity spreads. As a result, Change Fatigue can become a roadblock to improvement while contributing to lower productivity and retention. Change Fatigue Mimics Grief Understanding the normal reactions, you will encounter as a manager during the implementation timeline can make adopting changes easier because you will anticipate them and deal with them appropriately. The reactions people experience in the face of workplace change mirror the reactions people experience when confronted with death. A grieving process ensues. This process plays out in stages over a timeline that varies from person to person.

Kübler-Ross Change Model Curve Emotional Response to Change

Shock Surprise or Shock at the event

Denial Disbelief: Looking for evidence that it isn’t true

Frustration Recognition that things are different: something anger

Depression Low mood: lacking in energy

Experiment Initial engagement with new situation

Decision Learning how to work in the new situation: feeling more positive

Integration Changes

integrated: a renewed individual

Time

In 1969, the Kübler Ross Change Curve Model, was created by the Swiss American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross to show the 5 stages a person goes through when grieving a death. Change managers noticed very similar patterns among employees because a new way of doing something meant the death of the old way. So, the model was expanded and modified for business use. Each stage is an opportunity for managers to act. Acknowledging these stages and taking appropriate actions to help your team overcome them will greatly reduce Change Fatigue.

Kübler-Ross Change Curve® . EKR Foundation. (2021, September 25). Retrieved August 17, 2022, from https://www.ekrfoundation.org/5-stages-of-grief/change-curve/

Lower the Pressure Remember, employees will not progress through these stages at the same rate. They move along at their own pace. So, change can be adopted unevenly throughout your company. It’s important to recognize early adopters and leverage their support to encourage others. Also be aware that you can’t expect 100% productivity during this time as people struggle to complete tasks in new ways. Recognizing and communicating this relieves pressure.

A Deeper Look at Change Fatigue A Growing Issue

Change Fatigue is one of the top chronic problems facing companies today. Because we live in a rapidly changing world, businesses change constantly to compete. Sometimes a new set of changes may roll out as other changes are still being implemented. While this situation may spark competition between change leaders, it almost certainly increases the levels of Change Fatigue experienced by frontline employees. Employees are Less Resilient to Change The amount of change experienced because of the COVID pandemic has depleted most employees’ capacity to cope with change by 50% of pre-pandemic levels. Smaller Change is More Impactful Studies show that smaller day-to-day life changes are 2.5 times more impactful than major organizational changes.

For Example: Changing an employee’s direct leader, schedule, or a process they routinely use to complete daily tasks is much more impactful than organizational changes such as executive level organizational changes or navigating through a company merger/acquisition process.

Trust is Important Trust in leadership, enhances employees’ capacity to navigate change successfully. Trust grows with consistent messaging and deep understanding of the reasons behind the change. Employees must also have a clear vision of the planned change process before they buy in.

Root Causes of Change Fatigue Trust in leadership, enhances employees’ capacity to navigate change successfully. Trust grows with consistent messaging and deep understanding of the reasons behind the change. Employees must also have a clear vision of the planned change process before they buy in.

Lack of Results Frustration results when extra work and effort to implement change does not produce visible results

Too Much Work The initial work to implement change can often cause people to give up before they realize the benefit of the change

Never-ending Change seems everlasting and constant amid implementation, especially when multiple changes are concurrently being implemented

Missing Pieces The absence of understanding, vision, and information; or deficiency of trust in leadership or the change process limits successful implementation

How to Circumnavigate Change Fatigue To manage, navigate, and mitigate a Change Fatigued environment, you must be an effective leader. An effective leader is someone who develops trust and creates a sense of belonging amongst their team. Here are strategies you can use to begin building trust and cohesion with your employees:

Listen to the feedback. Share the feedback when appropriate. Explain actions taken.

Provide anonymous and live direct pathways for communication.

Create avenues for employees to communicate honestly with leadership.

Produce a visual journey change roadmap showing progress, timelines, and checkpoints.

Deliver regular updates, celebrate achieved milestones, recognize achievers, adopters and successes.

Create a culture focused on continuous improvement and constant learning.

Assign each employee a “Go-To” change resource they can always reach.

Publicly display proof of improvement data and implementation progress trackers.

Take time to sincerely thank, reward, and recognize employees for the extra efforts.

Model the change at all levels - Do as I do, not as I say – Be Positive.

Be approachable and maintain a personal connection.

Adjust the change plan and timetable if needed.

Growing an Organization During Change A well-managed change experience is important to lessen the opportunity for fatigue to take root. However, if change fatigue occurs, it’s important for leaders to recognize it and address the impact it has on its employees. Organizations can take the following steps to restore the energy of its employees and reduce the risk of fatigue in the future: Share the Why Make sure you clearly communicate WHY changes are being implemented. Understanding the reason behind changes helps you gain greater trust and buy-in throughout the change management process. Emphasize the Big Picture Ensuring your employees understand how changes fit into the bigger picture limits apprehension and push-back before, during, and after new initiatives take effect. Prioritize Most Impactful Changes First Constant change can create unnecessary inconsistency and employee dissatisfaction. By prioritizing the most impactful changes first, your employees will recognize the powerful benefits and understand the need for continued improvements.

Take a Break Allow for a “business as usual” time between changes so employees can adjust to and perfect practices from the first change before implementing new ones.

Lessen the Impact of Big Changes Break changes into smaller stages whenever possible for greater buy-in and successful adaption within day-to-day activities.

Be Patient Change isn’t easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Stay the course and reiterate the benefits your team will realize once the change is fully implemented.

LEARN MORE: Join the 30% Who Successfully Navigate Change Implement a new strategy without disturbing current operations. Here’s our approach to managing change when working with leading industry clients

Are Your Changes Working?

Metrics and measurements are critical for successful organizational change. In this video, one of our Delivery Leads explains the importance of monitoring and evaluating data throughout your process.

Agents of Change Effective call center operations require change management strategies while 70% of these initiatives may fail, essential success strategies can enormously boost the odds of success. Here’s what you need to know about getting employees to accept and even welcome change in your contact center.

GET INSITE. GET BETTER.

Insite is an industry leader in contact center management and performance optimization. Our customized, scalable solutions propel clients to the forefront of their industries through innovative strategies. With data-backed approaches, we identify revenue opportunities, cost savings, and optimize processes for rapid, sustainable results. Experience a clear path to accelerated success. Experience the Insite difference.

239.284.7529 connect@callinsite.com getinsite.io

New Employee Onboarding Handbook 2022

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10

getinsite.io