The most detrimental response an organisation, team or individual can have to change is “but we’ve always done it this way”. This mindset prohibits growth and innovation as, if we keep doing the same thing the same way over and over, we will always get the same results – we will never improve.

Change is undoubtedly hard for some people. It can often trigger negative emotional responses such as stress, anger, fear and anxiety; this is where emotional intelligence comes in to help you successfully manage change and overcome resistance.

So how can emotional intelligence help us portray change in a positive light and accelerate the adoption of change?

What is Emotional Intelligence and Why Does It Matter When Managing Change?

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to one’s ability to perceive, understand and manage feelings and emotions. Ultimately, having emotionally intelligent leaders results in a more efficient, effective and productive workforce that is capable of achieving great things. If you’d like to know more about the true meaning of emotional intelligence and how to spot warning signs of low EI, you can click here to read one of our previous articles all about EI.

Emotional intelligence is a key element of successful change implementation; it helps us manage our own emotions and also anticipate others’ emotions and reactions to change.

What Does Emotionally Intelligent Change Management Look Like?

As an emotionally intelligent leader, you should:

• Be aware of others’ needs
  Understanding your employees’ individual attitudes to change helps you foresee what their reactions may be, therefore helping you better support your staff through change.
  
  
• Accentuate the positives
  When introducing change, you should focus on the positive aspects of the change and how it will benefit them individually, their team, and the organisation as a whole.
  
  
• Encourage two-way communication
  Not only do you need to communicate and explain change clearly, you should also encourage your staff to voice their opinions on the change and raise any concerns they may have.
  
  
• Incrementally implement change
  Change is much easier to implement and manage when done incrementally instead of throwing your staff into the deep end, potentially leaving them feeling extremely overwhelmed.
  
  
• Upskill your staff
  The key to making change a success is ensuring that your staff have all of the knowledge, skills, and competencies they need by investing in training and development.

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What Other Attributes Contribute to Successful Change Management?

While emotional intelligence is a core aspect of change management, there are other skills that leaders need in order to successfully implement change in their team or organisation, including active listening, strategic thinking, personal resilience, and arguably most importantly – the ability to overcome resistance to change.

Being able to overcome resistance to change means understanding why people resist change, and how you can use different tools and methods to overcome their resistance.

One of the most common change management models related to overcoming resistance is The Change Curve. The Change Curve was developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the 1960s and looks at how people behave and react in response to change.

If you’d like to learn how to utilise The Change Curve to overcome resistance to change in your organisation, we are hosting a free 45 min webinar on Thursday 8th July 2021. 

This webinar will explore the different stages of The Change Curve, what managers should do as their staff pass through each change, and how The Change Curve can help you overcome resistance to change.

You can sign up to this free webinar by clicking the link below.

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We hope that this article has provided you with some useful insight into successfully managing change and we hope to see you on this upcoming webinar!

Next up on The Daily Dot, we will be discussing how emotional intelligence can help you build, maintain and repair strong working relationships to create an inclusive and considerate workplace environment.

Until next time…