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Have you ever presented a novel idea at work only to feel the sting of rejection?
Perhaps the response came in the form of "It's not the right time" or "We've tried that before" or "That will never work here."
Maybe there wasn't a response at all—just silence.
You were so sure that you had a winning concept. So, what happened? Rattling the status quo is necessary for organizations to remain competitive and relevant in today's complex, fast-paced market. However, straying from the comfort of the norm also can lead to resistance, conflict, and rejection.
So, how can you create positive change within your organization while mitigating the inevitable risks? These seven tips can get you moving in the right direction:
Seven tips for mastering change management
- 1. Know your context: Gain a deep understanding of your organizational culture, goals, processes, and stakeholders. Which ideas have a higher rate of adoption, and which typically are rejected? What is the organization working toward (e.g., financial stability, employer of choice, greater innovation, etc.)? Which ideas have worked in the past, and what was the secret to their success?
- 2. Grow your network: Expand your network to include allies who have positional power, personal power, or both. Positional power is dependent on holding a specific title or role, whereas personal power is based on an individual's character, skills, and how others perceive them.
- 3. Develop your idea: Gather data that quantifies the benefits and expected outcomes of your idea. Frame your idea positively so that it serves as a solution to a problem or challenge.
- 4. Listen and learn: Approach a sampling of stakeholders and share your idea with them. Actively listen to their feedback – both positive and constructive – and ask clarifying questions. Which aspects of your idea generate value? Which aspects are problematic? Are these stakeholders responding with support or resistance? If the latter, what is driving this resistance?
- 5. Refine and polish: Leverage data and feedback to help you refine your idea before sharing more broadly. Plus, stakeholders who see how their feedback shaped your final idea will respond with greater buy-in and less resistance.
- 6. Take small steps: Recommend incremental action steps to implement your idea in phases. If possible, pilot your idea to understand whether your concept translates into action. Assess impact, gather feedback, and continue to refine your idea before introducing it to your entire organization.
- 7. Learn from setbacks and failure: Remember that setbacks and failure are forms of feedback and opportunities to refine your idea, realign your approach, and reset your direction.
Change management principles in practice
Let's take an example to demonstrate how these tips might manifest in the work environment.
Maris is an HR manager in XYZ Ltd., a mid-sized organization. She manages the employee engagement survey, which is delivered in bi-annual pulse surveys. Over the past year, Maris noticed a trend within the employee feedback. Particularly, employees yearned for more flexible work schedules and locations. Although some leaders offered flexible arrangements, many did not. The president of the company disliked virtual work arrangements and preferred that employees report to the corporate offices to work their standard schedule. After reviewing these circumstances, XYZ's CHRO asked Maris to craft an organizational plan that addressed employees’ expectations for flexibility while ensuring that organizational and customer needs were met, too.
Maris anticipated the president’s and some leaders’ resistance to flexible work arrangements, so she approached her assignment with a strategic approach to managing change.
Expand your network to include allies who have positional power, personal power, or both
Maris started by poring over months of employee feedback. In her survey analysis, she discovered that several departments scored well on workplace flexibility. Coincidentally, these same departments maintained low turnover and moderate to high employee engagement.
Conversely, departments that did not score well on workplace flexibility also experienced high turnover and low engagement. Maris worked with her Finance partners to calculate costs associated with high turnover and low engagement, respectively.
Through external research, Maris discovered that her organization’s competitors already devised and implemented workplace-flexibility practices.
These competitors were marketing their flexible practices through their recruitment efforts to attract new talent. Maris was purposeful in summarizing these metrics, related costs, and market intelligence in her proposal to captivate her president’s attention.
Forging relationships across the business
Maris connected with those leaders who achieved the trifecta of high engagement scores, positive feedback on workplace flexibility, and low turnover. She interviewed these leaders and asked them how they achieved success.
She learned that a hybrid work arrangement that balanced employee, organizational, and customer needs worked best. In these departments, employees enjoyed flexibility on when and where they could work, but they also understood the non-negotiables, such as attending in-person team meetings; responding to urgent customer-service issues, and consistently complying with service-level agreements to satisfy coworker and customer expectations. Through her research, Maris forged relationships with these leaders, who quickly became her allies as she prepared her recommendations.
Maris crafted an approach that included a hybrid work schedule requiring at least two days in the corporate offices per week; a minimum of four working hours during core business hours; a one-hour turnaround time to address elevated service-recovery issues; and in-person attendance at team meetings and training sessions.
Additionally, Maris’ plan introduced service-level agreements with metrics to ensure that employees remained productive, teams worked efficiently, and service remained strong. Keeping the president’s concerns in mind, Maris outlined the business consequences of not adopting a consistent, flexible approach, including costs associated with high turnover; low employee engagement and productivity; increased absenteeism and burnout; reduced talent attraction; and higher operating costs for a fully in-person workforce.
After drafting her plan, Maris shared her recommendations with her leadership allies. She asked them to provide feedback on her recommendations while taking multiple perspectives (i.e., employee, customer, department leader, and executive). She pressed her allies to identify the value in her ideas, as well as any foreseeable challenges in implementing them. She asked her allies to note any resistance that her recommendations might elicit.
Use pilot programs and be reactive to feedback
Feedback from Maris’ allies – including several who worked closely with the president – sharpened her business case and prompted her to emphasize increased recruitment costs and onboarding activities when turnover occurred. The allies were honored that their feedback was considered in Maris’ final recommendations and offered full endorsement of her approach.
One of the leaders that Maris supported, Luke, struggled with introducing flexible work arrangements in his department. Maris reviewed her draft recommendations with Luke. He welcomed her assistance and agreed to pilot these recommendations if the CHRO and president agreed. Since Luke had a large and diverse employee population, Maris believed that he presented the perfect opportunity to test her recommendations.
If possible, pilot your idea to understand whether your concept translates into action. Assess impact, gather feedback, and continue to refine your idea before introducing it to your entire organization
Maris and her CHRO presented the recommendations to the president, who was complimentary of her work. Although he remained skeptical, the president approved a pilot in Luke’s department. Maris seized this opportunity and immediately met with Luke to plan the pilot. After introducing flexible work arrangements, Luke’s department experienced improved employee engagement, productivity, and retention.
Through his work with Maris, Luke identified one missing component in her approach. He requested a resource to support leaders in implementing flexible work arrangements; maintaining communications and productivity in a hybrid work environment; responding to employee questions and concerns; and measuring progress and outcomes.
Maris noted this gap in her recommendations and quickly developed a manager resource that contained the requested information. With a successful pilot, Maris received approval to expand her efforts to a larger portion of the organization with an expected full-scale implementation within one year.
Don’t be afraid to push the ‘next big idea’ despite resistance
By understanding your context, building a supportive network, and continuously refining your ideas based on feedback, you can mitigate rejection and pursue a pathway toward innovation and growth.
Every setback is an opportunity to learn and improve. With persistence and adaptability, you can drive change and help your organization thrive. Keep pushing boundaries, and don't be afraid to challenge the status quo—your next big idea could be the catalyst for meaningful and lasting change.
Tony Gigliotti, MHRM, PHR, ODCP, RCC is a thought leader with nearly 30 years of experience in talent and change management, organizational development, leadership and executive development, strategic HR planning, and corporate coaching.
