Is your business rolling out a new product line or implementing a new process? Are all employees on board and engaged with the change?  Do you keep seeing the old process or product creeping back into work routines? To figure out why, you may need to dig deep...it may not be as simple as your frontline employees resisting.

One of the most critical components of successful change involves the credible communications of your frontline leaders. These are the people your employees have the closest relationship with in the work environment. Hearing about a change needs to come from senior leaders, but understanding how that change will affect the daily routine of an employee should be communicated by the person they have the strongest relationship with.

But, let's assume that the change was communicated by their leader and still the team is not engaged. Why? There could be many reasons, and observing the team in action and talking to employees may be your best bet for discovering why. Perhaps the frontline leader did not convey the Why behind the reason for the change, and so employees can't see any real reason to change? Perhaps the leader doesn't believe there is a need to change?

If you find that any of these reasons exist, you will need to intervene with that leader quickly to assure that they are aware of the need for the change and that they are able to communicate the critical reasons why it is important to the team and the business. After all, it is impossible for you or your leaders to watch over every action your employees take every day. At some point, you will need to trust the team to live and breathe the changes necessary for your business to thrive, and their engagement in these initiatives is directly related to how effective your leaders are in communicating them.