Edge: Helping Your Team Navigate Change

This Management Connection CE article appeared in the 2025 January/February issue of Nutrition & Foodservice Edge magazine. To view a PDF of this article click HERE.

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Helping Your Team Navigate Change

By: Chrissy Carroll, MPH, RD 

POP QUIZ: What do implementing IDDSI, sourcing more local produce, and swapping meal service styles have in common? They all require you to lead your team through change! In any foodservice setting, change is inevitable. As a CDM, CFPP, it’s your responsibility to support your team and help them navigate through these transitions.

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF CHANGE

When you understand the factors that influence behavior change, you can create a plan with targeted solutions for success. One theoretical framework is the COM-B model, which highlights three components essential for facilitating behavior change: Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation.

Capability is whether employees have the physical skills and psychological abilities necessary to make the change. For example, physical skills might include knife proficiency, the ability to operate equipment, or the strength to lift boxes. Psychological abilities might include understanding dietary guidelines, knowing proper cooking temperatures, or the ability to prioritize tasks.

Opportunity refers to external factors that make change feasible. This includes both physical and social factors. Physical opportunity is all about resources. Do employees have the equipment, tools, staff, and/or time available to make this change? Social opportunity refers to the norms and support in the organization. In other words, are employees valued and heard? Has leadership clearly outlined steps for the change? Has a positive workplace culture been developed that supports the team?

Motivation is the employee’s internal processes that govern making a change. It includes two types. Automatic motivation is comprised of internal emotional reactions and impulses. As a manager, you have little control over this type of motivation. Reflective motivation, on the other hand, is about intention, planning, and decision-making. You can help guide employees to be more reflective by explaining the importance or benefits of a change, and potentially providing incentives to support good decision-making.

NAVIGATING CHANGE USING COM-B

Examine your team using the COM-B model within the realm of the proposed change. You should be able to identify which of the three components need improvement. There might be one clear answer, or work may be required on all three.

If capability is lacking, provide additional training or education for your team.

Ample research on both nutrition and food waste interventions in food service have found that lack of knowledge and poor training are both barriers to success. Providing more training is essential for optimal performance, especially when entering the unfamiliar territory of change.

Research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health looked at preferred training activities for school foodservice employees (which may translate to other foodservice settings). Top choices included:

• Hearing from an expert
• Participating in interactive activities
• Doing multiple activities in one training
• Peer-to-peer sharing
• Problem solving or brainstorming

If opportunity is poor, provide additional resources or remove barriers to supportive environments.

This might include staffing changes, new equipment, reorganization, involving key stakeholders, or changing policies and procedures. You may need to re-evaluate these regularly within the change process, adjusting as necessary with feedback from your team.

When it comes to policies and procedures specifically, research in Frontiers in Nutrition found several overarching characteristics of those that support change:

• Make it a collaborative process with key stakeholders, which could include your staff, dietitian, patient advocates, etc.
• Start with a small-scale trial to work out any problems before expanding it fully.
• List specific metrics and frameworks to guide decisions.
• Effectively communicate the policy to your staff.

If motivation is insufficient, inspire your employees with compelling reasons or benefits to change (i.e., the “why” behind the change). You might also consider potential incentives or rewards.

Research has noted that shifting perspective and fostering momentum are key components of motivation to change. Consider strategies like…

• Raising awareness of the issue. What is the actual problem, and why is this important?
• Providing necessary knowledge on how the proposed change addresses that problem.
• Reviewing team values and beliefs, and emphasizing collective responsibility.
• Setting clear goals, including how leadership will help support the team in achieving them.
• Asking all employees to actively commit to the change.
• Voicing confidence in employees’ abilities. When they feel supported by management, they are more likely to believe in their ability to tackle a challenge.
• Providing positive reinforcement. This can include verbal praise, written notes, gift cards, public recognition, or a team celebration. It may sound small, but consider this: a recent survey of 2000 workers by Bonusly found that 65 percent say they would work harder if they felt like their contributions were noticed by management!

SAMPLE CHANGE SCENARIOS

Let’s return to each of the three scenarios from our introduction, and apply the COM-B framework:

1. Implementing IDDSI
Scenario: Your long-term care facility is transitioning to International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) guidelines to ensure safe food textures for residents with dysphagia.

Sample COM-B Strategies:

• Capability: You set up several hands-on trainings with your staff to teach IDDSI standards. Staff practice texture modification techniques and learn evaluation skills, like the spoon tilt test and the fork test. You provide reference materials that are available in the kitchen for all staff.
• Opportunity: New policies and procedures are established, and a calendar is developed with implementation milestones. You ensure that proper tools, such as blenders and 10-ml syringes, are available. A specific section of the kitchen may be designated with all IDDSI equipment and tools. At the start, you might adjust schedules to allow more time for preparing meals as staff adapt. You meet with clinicians to discuss the diet order system and ensure they are familiar with the IDDSI standards, helping get the entire organization on board.
• Motivation: You emphasize how IDDSI will keep patients safe on texture-modified diets. You share real-life examples from your facility to stress the importance. You recognize staff for their participation in training and for different implementation milestones. You provide some surprise $5 coffee gift cards when you notice staff referring to IDDSI resources or sharing tips with their colleagues.

2. Sourcing More Local Produce
Scenario: Your school foodservice department is planning to incorporate more local produce, with goals of supporting the local economy and providing fresh food to students.

Sample COM-B Strategies:

• Capability: You provide training for staff about how to prepare and store local fresh produce, as much of the past produce in your department was received frozen or canned. A chef that specializes in farm-to-table cooking provides a hands-on culinary class showcasing fun, kid-friendly meal ideas.
• Opportunity: You collaborate with local farmers to ensure consistent supply and delivery schedules. Additional kitchen tools or equipment are ordered if necessary. You work with your staff to revise menus to align with what’s seasonally available. Backup plans are developed in the event crop yields are not as expected.
• Motivation: Your district-wide dietitian communicates the value of local produce to your staff, emphasizing that it may increase fruit and vegetable intake, and have nutritional benefits for students. The school hosts a kickoff event featuring a “farm-to-table” lunch, where staff, students, and parents participate. You provide public recognition for staff members who are excelling during the change.

3. Swapping Meal Service Styles
Scenario: Your hospital foodservice department is transitioning from a traditional tray line model to a room service model.

Sample COM-B Strategies:

• Capability: You provide training for staff on the room service model, discussing similarities and differences to the current tray line model. Chefs and line cooks are trained on how to complete cook-to-order meals. You review the ordering system and have staff practice a few mock orders. Your dietitian provides training on handling room service orders that don’t match the patient’s diet order. Staff engage in peer role playing scenarios to practice soft skills for patient interactions.
• Opportunity: You install new technology for room service ordering. Your staff practices with the new system many times before the official roll out to all patients. You schedule extra staff at the start of the room service model to reduce the risk of overwhelm. The kitchen is slightly reconfigured to support the new workflow.
• Motivation: You review the reasons why you are switching to this new model, reminding staff about past complaints from patients (for example, receiving cold food or items they didn’t like). You emphasize how this model will reduce the number of those complaints. Staff are encouraged to contribute ideas for optimizing the workflow and are recognized for their efforts in making the transition successful.

MOVING FORWARD

 These are just a few examples, but the same concepts apply to any change in your department. By using the COM-B model, you can identify causes of organizational change resistance, and implement targeted strategies that foster smoother transitions. This will help you create a supportive environment where change feels manageable to employees, and everyone contributes to the department’s success.

About the Author

Chrissy Carroll, MPH, RD

Chrissy Carroll is a registered dietitian, freelance writer, and brand consultant based in central Massachusetts.