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Information is important in times of change

Two smiling persons.
Daniel Tavast och Lena Birgersdotter. Photo: KTH
Published Jun 08, 2022

At the end of May, seven members of CBH's administrative management group attended a course in change management and change communications help by The Swedish Communication Association.
”The course was thought-provoking and I took with me a lot of important tools that we will useful when working for a smoother transition. There was a lots of discussion material,” says Daniel Tavast, infrastructure manager at CBH.

Lena Birgersdotter is HR manager at CBH and has also taken the course. For her, it was a good way to refresh old knowledge, especially since she recently joined as a HR representative for the schools in the working group for change communications during the merger of KTH’s support services.

”Every change is a new situation. What I mainly take with me from the course is how people react to a change and that you go through different phases. Everyone goes through the same curve, but it takes a different amount of time for everyone and you need to be aware of that,” she says.

Normal to feel anxious about change

The knowledge is something that Daniel Tavast also takes note of when it comes to his work with the infrastructure group.

“Among other things, we can discuss where we are on the ladder of change and point out that it is normal to feel anxious about change. It is also important to realize the importance of informing, even if we have no new information,” he says.

Change management can be challenging.

“It is a burden because the usual services must be managed at the same time, but it is also fun because you can be involved and give your views on how it should be organized in the future,” says Lena Birgersdotter.

“All services must continue for us to have a functioning everyday life for everyone in the business. It has become a key word in our survey. We still have to bring in goods, compressed air, deionized water and everything else that the business needs to be able to conduct its research,” says Daniel Tavast.

Joint processes

On the HR side, work is also underway to develop joint processes for a change in the salary payment system.

“Thanks to the fact that the working group goes through what administration is needed for our various forms of employees, from when the job is created, the person is recruited, to when the person quits, we see similarities and differences in our working methods at the five schools and within GVS. The idea is that a more common process should reduce the workload because it is then sufficient to keep a process updated instead of it being done in six different places within KTH. We then free up time to be flexible towards the business where it is needed,” says Lena Birgersdotter.

As an employee in times of change, Lena Birgersdotter thinks it is important to express her feelings and obtain information.

“I think you should tell your boss how you perceive the change because the boss cannot guess how to react. I also think that you should find out what the change means and would like to recommend this page on the intranet ,” she says.

In the autumn, there are plans for various initiatives in connection with the merger for both managers and employees, but there are already various types of support, training and information to take part in.

“For those of you who work with support service, we have regular information meetings and for all groups of employees there is the opportunity to talk with the occupational health service Avonova, You book yourself and it is possible to book three calls anonymously,” says Lena Birgersdotter.

Text: Sabina Fabrizi