Developing Adaptable Employees and Teams

Keeping up with the rapid pace of technology and process changes is a challenge for organizations worldwide. On this episode of The Forward Thinking Podcast, FCCS VP of Marketing and Communications Stephanie Barton welcomes Greg DeVore, co-founder and CEO of ScreenSteps for a discussion about creating smoother transitions and stronger team performance. They cover strategies for developing adaptable employees and teams, tools and training that can empower employees to confidently adapt to change, and what happens when employees are given the framework that enables them to effectively enhance their performance and improve their procedures.

 

Episode Insights Include:

 

Why do organizations struggle with change? 

• Change is often a people problem. No one likes change.

• The lack of clarity around change creates additional ambiguity and stress.

• Leaders need to be aware of the cognitive load they are putting on people when introducing changes.

 

How can change be made less scary?

• A one-time lunch-and-learn does not provide enough time to retain new information.

• Employees lose 90% of the information presented to them, so they must be empowered to perform their new jobs after they have forgotten almost everything new.

• Creating a reference guide for change provides the framework that employees need to access new foundational knowledge.

• Empower employees to find the information they need at the moment they need it.

 

Becoming a Find and Follow organization

• The only way you can make onboarding easier is if you change the way you work.

• Transferring information from one employee to the next is a critical component of organizational success.

• If you are truly seeking consistency and the ability to adapt to change, you don’t actually want employees to learn tasks. You want them to understand the foundational knowledge.

 

Effectively introducing change

• A really good checklist will beat dozens of years of experience.

• Memorization is not the ultimate goal, empowering employees to access knowledge is.

• Start introducing change by identifying the needed change and the resources that will support it.

• High complexity and high rates of change require a high level of training and resources.

• The goal should be to transfer knowledge to employees in the moment that they need it.

 

Identifying what employees need to know in order to be successful

• Include the person in charge of training, the person fixing the employees’ mistakes, and the person who answers their questions.

• Consider the employee triggers- tasks that must be performed and questions that must be answered.

• This approach can work for both large and small changes.

• Employees who follow this approach will feel more confident in their responsibilities.

• Effective, established frameworks can support AI in the future of work.

 

This podcast is powered by FCCS.

 

Resources

 

Connect with Greg DeVore — Greg DeVore

 

Get in touch

 

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