Inevitably, your company is going through, or will soon be going through, a digital transformation. Whether it’s integrating a new system or a complete overhaul of your technology infrastructure, uncertainty will loom and disruption will prevail. With business disruption comes people disruption.

Undoubtedly, the long-term impact of your digital transformation, small or large, will have many profoundly positive impacts on your business. There is no question that the short-term pain will be worth the long-term gain. And in today’s business reality, digital transformation is less of a business choice, and more of a business necessity.

Although everyone looks forward to the end result, the short-term impact and incumbent demands on your people can be very difficult and challenging, and require careful consideration.

As an organisational psychologist and executive coach, I cannot stress enough the importance of preparing your people for change, especially for highly disruptive innovation.

Never underestimate the potentially detrimental impact that the disruption of digital transformation can have on people across your enterprise.

Change is never easy, and uncertainty can increase stress and, for some, emotional distress.

Navigating our brains’ natural dislike of uncertainty requires preparation, planning, expectation management and communication.

For example, if you walked around a corner and a dog jumped out in front of you unexpectedly, you would likely have a “fright” reaction. In this same scenario, if someone had explained that a friendly dog was just ahead of you around the corner, your reaction would be significantly different.

Acknowledging that transformation always brings some disruption is helpful when managing expectations. I remember a professor of mine once said: “There is always tension before change.”

I challenged this thought at first, but then realised this statement to be true. In fact, the struggle associated with change and transformation lies at the very heart of the phrase “growing pains”.

Tension (or “change motivation”, as I refer to it in my practice) actually has an energy domino impact. Change doesn’t just happen spontaneously, but instead it is instigated by pressure from some source, whether internally or externally.

Change motivation can be instigated by negative forces pushing for change from many sources, including unnecessary bureaucracy, potential cyberthreats, uncertain business developments, or by positive forces pulling for change, including elevation of industry standards or a vision of innovative business improvements.

The push or pull of pressure in the system becomes a tension instigating the momentum of change. This is where organisational psychology dovetails with innovation to support your people through change. Preparing, or enduring, transformation requires getting your people’s buy-in; they may not be 100 per cent excited about the change, but if they can be part of the vision, they can then become enablers of change, rather than resisting.

Preparing your organisation, and setting it up for success, not just managing it as you go, seems to be the key ingredient. Here are a few ways to prepare your people for a digital transformation:

1, Communicate. Communicate. Communicate: Never underestimate the importance of communication, even if the communication update is “we don’t know”. If there are gaps in your communication, it will leave room for assumptions. Think of communication during change like a tight string that can go limp.

2, Manage expectations: Acknowledge the struggle of change. It will be worse for your people if there is more struggle than anticipated. This does not mean creating a culture of whining, but it does mean creating a culture where people don’t suffer quietly, and are more prepared for it.

3, Time-bind the change: Struggle (and pain) is always more endurable if there is a time-limit on it.

4, Celebrate small wins along the way: This enforces and appreciates your people’s efforts.

5, Assign change champions: Find those individuals who are truly excited about the change and help them to lead.

6, Establish a clear change vision: This is the anchor when the journey gets tough; reiterate it!

7, Providing training, and more training: Help people get comfortable with the new systems so that they are not daunting.

8, Ensure your leaders are on board, wholeheartedly: Watch the tone-from-the-top.

9, Include all of your people in the change: Solicit their ideas. Make them part of it.

10, Never take the people factor for granted: The success of your digital transformation relies on your enterprise’s adaptation to it.

To ensure the success of any digital transformation, you are well advised to engage resources with experience and professional expertise in the many vital people aspects of those often disruptive projects.

• Jennifer Card, Psy.D is an organisational psychologist, leadership consultant, executive coach, conflict mediator and team dynamics specialist at Coral Leadership (Bermuda)