Build Relationships that Weather Change

If you're like most managers, you spend eight or more hours a day at work. You start and end the day with a group of individuals who typically share your professional goals and aspirations. You spend about as much time with these people as you do with your own family. But do you know them? As a manager managing in the midst of change, you should. Here are some easy ways that good change managers can get to know their staff members:

• Make a point of getting together with the employees you interact with the least.
• When you assign a new project to an individual, schedule a specific time to review his or her progress and answer any questions that might arise in relation to the assignment. Act as a mentor or team member, not a clock-watcher.
• Drop in on your employees from time to time. When you don't, your visits will seem unnatural and generate anxiety. Visiting often takes away potential tension and allows you to have open and friendly communication with your staff.
• Spend more time with employees during stressful times such as layoffs, major projects or cost reduction efforts. Avoid pessimism and stress the positives of the situation.
• Enter and exit your facility through a variety of entrances and exists so that you get the change to interact with people you wouldn't otherwise see.

Take the time to foster good working relationships with your staff. Doing so is always beneficial, but never more so than during times of change and stress. During these times your staff will look to you for your guidance and experience. By offering them friendly support, it will be much easier for them to deal with and accept the changes that are happening in the workplace.

For managerial concerns, call our EAP Program at 1-800-769-9819 or logon to the Bureau of Human Resources at www.maine.gov/bhr/sos or the Division of Employee Health and Benefits at www.maine.gov/beh

Adapted from Successfully Managing Change, George Hardy, 1997, Barron's Educational Series, Inc. and 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, Bob Nelson, 1997, Workman Publishing Company, Inc.