By Malcolm Gallagher

There’s a lot of very nervous workers in the UK at the moment. In fact, one recent survey found that 51% of UK workers fear they will lose their jobs this year.

That alone is concerning for business leaders. A settled team makes for a happy customer experience and the opposite applies.

The recent news on immigration reform has caused great alarm in the hospitality, farming and care sectors so we are about to see big upheaval there. I firmly believe that this will end in predatory poaching by competitors of the best team members from rivals. So take action to protect your talent.

Then that brings the job of recruitment, finding the right new people and getting them onboarded. And people are just one of the many challenges of change on its way to you.

So how to manage change? Well it’s something I have  a lot of experience in with my coaching. I’ve coached on the change needed through compliance, digital disruption, leadership, ownership, procurement, sales process and much more.

In all cases I’ve worked on I’ve found that a few general scenarios exist.

The big one is usually…. well it won’t happen to me. That’s understandable but its ostrich head in the sand thinking.

The other common scenario is to simply address a single change challenge, Again it doesn’t work like that!

Can you remember that fairground game Whac-a-mole where you bash down one mole’s head and another pops up elsewhere? Well, change is like that – you almost have to play 3-dimensional chess to anticipate where the next challenge, or opportunity, will come from.

Again, so how to manage change? Don’t rush into it. First, know and understand the 3 barriers to change.

Let me take you through them.

In my experience, business leaders face a fundamental conflict.  Change requires action but efficient companies tend to have high levels of inertia.

When business is going well, managers and teams generally only pay lip service to change requirements. Knowing that there are three barriers I’ve identified and studied. See if you recognise any of the 3.

1. The good is the enemy of the better: Efficient, currently successful businesses often slow down necessary change. The usually think why should they change what is successful today? You know the thinking – don’t change what’s supposedly working. But will it keep on being right?
2. Watch out for your main team: Your most successful managers might be the ones slowing down your efforts to change because they have the most to lose. Change needs to start with the person at the top, BUT…. it’s often those who have grown accustomed to success that finds it most difficult to change course.
3. Your Business DNA takes time to change: Don’t underestimate the time and effort required to change deep-rooted mindsets and ways of working. Your past and current business exert a natural pull that will stop all meaningful change unless you’re persistent and change at enough pace and scale to break through the barrier.

I trust you found these 3 barriers to change interesting. Do any apply to your operation?

I’ll be bringing you more posts on change from my Changeology Programme as we all progress on our journey Beyond Brexit.