Four steps CIOs can take to reduce IT staff fatigue

According to Gartner, CIOs should treat change fatigue as a business issue, assigning change leadership, co-creating execution and engaging stakeholders, and caring about change emotions to reduce IT staff fatigue.

Technology research and advisory firm Gartner says employees are dealing with unprecedented change since Covid and are tired of change.

“Any employee dealing with accelerated digitalization, employee turnover, having to adapt to various work models, and more workplace disruption is feeling exhausted,” said Daniel Sanchez-Reina, analyst vice president at Gartner. , employee fatigue can impact the success of technology initiatives.”

Change Management Plan

While many organizations are developing good change management programs and implementing cultural change when needed, many CIOs are not getting the results they want. “It’s because they’re ignoring a key factor, which is change fatigue,” Sanchez-Reiner said.

Gartner defines change fatigue as a negative employee reaction to change that harms organizational results (including apathy, burnout, and frustration).

“Fatigue can impair employee performance in a number of ways, including apathy, burnout, and depression. It also reduces employees’ ability to make decisions, solve complex problems, and communicate,” says Sanchez-Reina.

Gartner recommends four steps for CIOs to take to reduce change fatigue in their organizations.

Treat change fatigue as a business problem

Gartner research found that 8 in 10 CIOs don’t make fatigue a regular part of their conversations about business technology initiatives. “Most CIOs only work with business partners to set project timelines and communication plans without considering the background of employees. Ultimately, they are not addressing worker fatigue,” Sanchez-Reina said.

CIOs should incorporate change fatigue into their planning initiatives by adding fatigue assessments. It should be scheduled as a discussion with business partners. At a minimum, this discussion should include the level of effort required for each program and how day-to-day work will fit into the program.

Assign change leadership

With a leader who is focused on completing a project, product or initiative on time, it will be difficult to understand the cost of employee fatigue.

Gartner recommends that CIOs establish distributed leadership, such as assigning supervisors and tactical decision makers dispersed throughout the organization, who have closer ties to employees and can change direction when fatigue mounts. Distributed leadership also spreads the burden of decision-making, which is another key cause of stress.

Co-create execution and engage stakeholders

The most successful organizations decide how to execute change with the cooperation of top management and lower organizational layers. They also involve IT and business stakeholders in change management.

“CIOs should create a team that includes technologists as well as experts from all functions that the initiative will touch,” Sanchez-Reina said. “A blend of people with different perspectives will help bring cohesion among those involved in the change.”

CIOs should also develop guidelines for how their teams should conduct their work, which helps ensure that multidisciplinary teams share responsibility for results and focus on delivering business outcomes, not just completing project plans.

concern about changing emotions

“Because positive or negative emotional impacts create lasting memories of positive or negative in our brains, it is imperative that CIOs mentally register as many positives as possible,” Sanchez-Reina said. “For example, some companies Included are ‘listening to weaknesses’ sessions where employees have the opportunity to openly share their concerns. This initiative replaces the occasional venting moment at the water cooler or vending machine and makes these concerns manageable.” — trade arab news agency