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How to Manage Change - Tell Your People Why the Need For Change
| Guest post by: Stephen Warrilow |
Article Overview: How to manage change - and at the speed of change? How to deal with the turbulence? This is challenging and of all the current strategies for managing change it's a perspective that is increasingly relevant in the current climate.
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How to Manage Change - Tell Your People Why the Need For Change
How to manage change - and at the speed of
change? How to deal with the turbulence? This is challenging and of all
the current strategies for managing change it's a perspective that is
increasingly relevant in the current climate.
Business guru Daryl Conner offers a fresh view on change management and says that given that people will resist change - and that resistance will be articulated as "why?" - and he suggests that senior management prepare very thorough answers to the following questions:
- What's so very wrong with the way that we've been doing things up to now?
- Why were we doing them wrong before?
- What will happen to me?
- When will happen to me?
- What if anything can I do about it
- What then is expected of me?
- What does this mean for me in my day-to-day job?
- What will you the management or leadership do about it?
- If [or more likely when] I encounter problems, what do I do, to whom do I turn?
We need to stop assuming we are one project away from things settling down
The Daryl Conner model starts with the premise that "Uninformed Optimism" is always followed by "Informed Pessimism" and humans will choose the comfort of familiarity over the anxiety that comes with the unknown.
He suggests that as we now live in an era of perpetual change and disturbance, we need to expect more change: "we need to stop assuming we are one project away from things settling down."
He says that we focus an inordinate amount of time and energy into trying to make people feel comfortable during a major change - where as the reality is they won't - dramatic change is uncomfortable.
The leader's role in change is not to make people feel happy about the change: it's helping them succeed despite their discomfort. It is not necessary for people to like what has happened to them - it is necessary that they make the adjustments that will help them succeed in the new environment.
In his book "Leading at the Edge of Chaos" [Wiley, 1998] Conner suggests some practical dos and don'ts for leading through turbulence. Here are a few examples:
The "Do's" of ongoing turbulence
- Be honest - more not less turmoil lies ahead
- Be concerned with whether people can successfully assimilate additional changes when new initiatives are being considered
- Pay more attention to how you learn than to what you learn
- Remember that it is everyone's job is to succeed in unfamiliar environments
- Increase your tolerance for ambiguity during periods of uncertainty
- View some of today's disturbance as the potential for tomorrow's new possibilities
- Translate "either/or" choices into "both/and" thinking
- Take some of the mystery and mystique out of change by learning to understand its patterns and dynamics
- Experiment with all and everything that you can, but remember to maintain your core values so you have an internal reference point for making key decisions
The "Don'ts" of ongoing turbulence
- Don't wait for things to slow down
- Don't ever think your organisation is one step from tranquility
- Stop feeling sorry for yourself that life has become so challenging
- Stop feeling like a victim when you don't get what you want
- Don't think that your people are entitled to always feel comfortable during change, or that you or your organisation has failed if this doesn't happen
- Stop being drawn to the excitement of initiating change bit bored or distracted with what it takes to sustain it
- Don't think that any one person or single group can resolve the really important issues in isolation
- Stop relying on your own knowledge, assumptions, and perceptions as the only valid basis of determining what to do next
In my opinion, this is a deeply pragmatic view that is well attuned to the current climate and one that resonates deeply with and is totally consistent with the holistic and wide view perspective of a programme based approach to change management.
Related ArticlesBusiness guru Daryl Conner offers a fresh view on change management and says that given that people will resist change - and that resistance will be articulated as "why?" - and he suggests that senior management prepare very thorough answers to the following questions:
- What's so very wrong with the way that we've been doing things up to now?
- Why were we doing them wrong before?
- What will happen to me?
- When will happen to me?
- What if anything can I do about it
- What then is expected of me?
- What does this mean for me in my day-to-day job?
- What will you the management or leadership do about it?
- If [or more likely when] I encounter problems, what do I do, to whom do I turn?
We need to stop assuming we are one project away from things settling down
The Daryl Conner model starts with the premise that "Uninformed Optimism" is always followed by "Informed Pessimism" and humans will choose the comfort of familiarity over the anxiety that comes with the unknown.
He suggests that as we now live in an era of perpetual change and disturbance, we need to expect more change: "we need to stop assuming we are one project away from things settling down."
He says that we focus an inordinate amount of time and energy into trying to make people feel comfortable during a major change - where as the reality is they won't - dramatic change is uncomfortable.
The leader's role in change is not to make people feel happy about the change: it's helping them succeed despite their discomfort. It is not necessary for people to like what has happened to them - it is necessary that they make the adjustments that will help them succeed in the new environment.
In his book "Leading at the Edge of Chaos" [Wiley, 1998] Conner suggests some practical dos and don'ts for leading through turbulence. Here are a few examples:
The "Do's" of ongoing turbulence
- Be honest - more not less turmoil lies ahead
- Be concerned with whether people can successfully assimilate additional changes when new initiatives are being considered
- Pay more attention to how you learn than to what you learn
- Remember that it is everyone's job is to succeed in unfamiliar environments
- Increase your tolerance for ambiguity during periods of uncertainty
- View some of today's disturbance as the potential for tomorrow's new possibilities
- Translate "either/or" choices into "both/and" thinking
- Take some of the mystery and mystique out of change by learning to understand its patterns and dynamics
- Experiment with all and everything that you can, but remember to maintain your core values so you have an internal reference point for making key decisions
The "Don'ts" of ongoing turbulence
- Don't wait for things to slow down
- Don't ever think your organisation is one step from tranquility
- Stop feeling sorry for yourself that life has become so challenging
- Stop feeling like a victim when you don't get what you want
- Don't think that your people are entitled to always feel comfortable during change, or that you or your organisation has failed if this doesn't happen
- Stop being drawn to the excitement of initiating change bit bored or distracted with what it takes to sustain it
- Don't think that any one person or single group can resolve the really important issues in isolation
- Stop relying on your own knowledge, assumptions, and perceptions as the only valid basis of determining what to do next
In my opinion, this is a deeply pragmatic view that is well attuned to the current climate and one that resonates deeply with and is totally consistent with the holistic and wide view perspective of a programme based approach to change management.
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About the Author: Stephen Warrilow RSS for Stephen's articles - Visit Stephen's website Stephen Warrilow, based in Bristol, works with companies across the UK providing specialist support to directors delivery significant change initiatives. Stephen has 25 years cross sector experience with 100+ companies in mid range corporate, larger SME and corporate environments. Click here to visit Stephen's website   How to Manage Change 8 Guiding Principles From John Kotter Leadership Styles the Amazing Story of the Hawthorne Effect Kurt Lewin The Iceman Cometh How to Manage Change Freeze Unfreeze Freeze Leadership Styles What is Most Effective in Leading Change KublerRoss How to Deal With the Pain of Change The Change Roller Coaster |
Related Forum Posts
Re: Spellcheck?
- [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j]
That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right.
If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned.
Shri
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers
- Hi GT
It is only fairly recently that people in South Africa have been able to get full use of Paypal as we were only able at one time to make payments but not receive them. Fortunately this has now changed. I have received money through Global X Change for one of the affiliate programs that I promote and have found them pretty good as the money is normally transferred directly into my bank account within 2-3 days and I have not had any problems with them.
MichelleJ
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals
- [quote="Alan Mater":3kaa8sg4]
Obama WILL make changes... but they're not the changes we as a country need or should look forward to.[/quote:3kaa8sg4]
Sad but this is exactly how I feel about it. Change is coming - but unless I'm really wrong, it is not a change this country needs. Amazing how much a good speaker with a good speech writer can do. If you paid attention to the things he said "off script" - much of it is frightening.
Chris
Are you an Opportunity Addict?
- 1) if you find yourself saying yes without thinking about how it will affect your other priorities
2) you have over 10 projects/inventions going on at the same time and this seems normal to you
3) you have spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on manufacturing, prototypes, etc. not to mention thousands of hours of your time....but you havent followed through on any of it
4) most of your projects are falling behind or have completely fallen off your radar....which is fueling your frustration
The first step in recovery is to recognize this as a pattern of self sabotage. If you are clear in what your overall goals and objectives are, you should be able to create a lens through which you measure opportunities.
You create your life, and your to do list. Change, Add, Remove, Adjust time-lines - whatever you like. But remember that every piece of unfinished business - stays that way
J
You are too young
- I don't really believe (I've been into web designing for 7 years now... I started in 2000) there is any web design laws. Besides the fact that you can't use copyrighted images on web design without permission from the original author.
Also, any web designs you do you may want to have it copyrighted so other's can't steal your idea's or whatever... of course, you can offer a "Copyright Change" option for a bit more money that will allow you to be able to transfer the copyrights and give exclusive rights to the purchaser.
All in all, don't worry about the laws... you should be fine, just remember that if your in the U.S. that if your making over $400 (or maybe its $600) in revenue, you'll have to pay taxes to the government... and please get a LLC, although its not a big thing with web designs, you could get into legal trouble somewhere in the business. Lastly, use contracts for when your selling or use agreements to clear the air so that you can have a safe business and you'll have some backing up if you ever are taken to court.
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