Employees getting demotivated and deflated due to the constant changes in the organization can lead to change fatigue. As outlined in our article on change fatigue, You observed that your employees are whinier and have more complaints regarding the changes implemented. Do you notice your employees experiencing more irritation and reluctance to work towards the new tasks or the change in the flow of things ?
More disengagement with the change journey. Employee is indifferent to the changes that are being implemented and just going with the flow?
Less productivity and enthusiasm as before. Employee or employees are less energetic about the changes implemented?
You notice that employee/s question the purpose of the changes and seem not to be convinced. You notice that there is huge push back and more resistance as the changes increase.
Employees are feeling uncomfortable with the change through their reduced excitement and negative vibes that you are sensing.
Here are 5 ways that you can use to start getting everything back on track especially if your teams are going through a lot of changes.
#1 : Increase social time with team members
Social interaction is key to a human being's well-being as studies have shown that a lack of social support even in a work setting can affect our potential of experiencing happiness. The Lack of social interaction has has been linked to worse physical and emotional health outcomes and poorer wellbeing. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, who studies the biology of our emotions and thinking. “We’re built to really seek social companionship and understanding.”
In situations where employees could be experiencing any form of burn out due to change fatigue, just conversing with co-workers or people has been found to release endorphins, the chemical that reduces pain. The act of voicing out allows for an outlet and increases mental strength and resilience.
Spend time to converse with your team to allow them to voice out, to be acknowledged and to be heard rather than to disable them by disallowing any outlet of voice.
#2 : Create moments of collaboration in the course of employee's work
The way that work gets done is different when collaboration is involved, a sense of togetherness emerges which helps our brains function better than not having any collaboration at all. This has been seen to evident even in simple social settings sch as children doing collaborative work seem to be generally happier and gravitate towards achieving the desired result in comparison to doing it alone.
When people are treated as partners working together with others – even when physically apart – their motivation increases, according to new Stanford research.
Their findings showed that when people were treated as though they were working together they:
Persisted 48 to 64 percent longer on a challenging task
Reported more interest in the task
Became less tired by having to persist on the task – presumably because they enjoyed it
Became more engrossed in the task and performed better on it
Begin creating those moments of collaboration for your team
#3 : Create a sense of gratitude in your team
People or groups that are more grateful in nature tend to be happier, more satisfied and more resilient to stress or disruptions.
Managers who remember to say "thank you" to people who work for them may find that those employees feel motivated to work harder. Researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania randomly divided university fund-raisers into two groups. One group made phone calls to solicit alumni donations in the same way they always had. The second group — assigned to work on a different day — received a pep talk from the director of annual giving, who told the fund-raisers she was grateful for their efforts. During the following week, the university employees who heard her message of gratitude made 50% more fund-raising calls than those who did not.
Making conversations and acknowledging the work that your team puts in is a great way to start the ball rolling. The challenge is not how to start, it is how to sustain it as an everyday practice. Leaders need to be grateful in their own personal lives for the culture of gratitude to become part of the team.
“Make a point of noticing who around you is contributing to the goodness in your life and actually express it by saying thank you.”
Wanting to establish new routines of change in your organization, click here to learn more on how to lead the change