You're facing resistance from middle managers in a change process. How can you win their buy-in and support?

Before talking to them as Managers, talk to them and understand their concerns as employees because this is what they are! Once these concerns are well addressed, you then involve them in the approach to their team members.

Find out what their barrier points are. Why are they not convinced. The arts and techniques of communication starts with proper listening. Listening & understanding where they are coming from and their whys? Why are they resisting? Be prepared and give them the necessary support they need.

When you combine empowerment, ownership and attitude, the resulting formula is simply a multiplier of the expected results. To achieve this, keep in mind: - Define a strong purpose. What do we want to change and what are we willing to achieve. - Create KPIs that help us monitor progress. - Communicate in a transparent and collaborative way. - Involve middle management in decision making and communication. - Provide training in key change competencies and tools. - Measure the impact and performance of actions by involving and asking them for feedback. Finally, it is important to demonstrate progress with objective facts so that the flame of change and motivation remains alive.

Of course involve them! They are the ones that the employees want to see and hear from. Equip them with the Knowledge to be able to effectively manage their team's barrier points and resistance to the change.

Before starting to train them, it is very important to gauge their levels of Awareness and Desire to participate in this Change. Don't Start training and equipping them with the knowledge before they are fully Aware of the why and what will happen if the change doesn't happen. Then let them be full of the Desire to participate in the upcoming change. Then, once they are, give them the right knowledge to be able to lead as Managers by properly communicating the Change and its need. Train them on how to liaise with you and the Project leadership and team members. Train them on how to coach their team members and most importantly, train and equip them with how they can be advocates of the need for this Change to manage the team's Resistance.

Sure is! Recognition is always Key and not only during change. Recognition is not only good for reinforcement, but also to drive the morale and strengthen the efforts made and the continuous desire to keep driving and managing their team through and after the change.

In my opinion: Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization's goals, processes and technologies. The purpose of change management is to implement strategies for effecting and controlling change and helping people to adapt to change.

This can be broken down into 2 separate issues. a) what are the underlying desires and fears of the managers around the change? What is their motive for the pushback? Always the main key point in any dispute is the collision of desires or fears. Understanding that part requires applying empathy and having open conversations. Show openness and allow vulnerability. b) They have a capacity issue. If they are already stressed or overworked or they feel they can't handle the new change they will push back. Example: If we apply this new technology we will have 4x times results but a specific department has to spend a lot more extra time on top of their normal work to prepare for the change. They need help and it comes out as pushback.