You might find change a walk in the park but what about your team? There’ll 100% come a time when you’ll need to manage them through it - So what do you do?
Welcome to the final leadership blog. This time on managing change. One thing’s for certain, as a manager you’ll 100% have to, at some point in your career, support others through change. So it’s definitely an essential leadership theme to explore.
In a moment we’ll start by looking at how we experience change, the emotions we go through and how we respond. I’ll also introduce some models, tips and techniques that’ll support you, in supporting others. We’ll also look at how to mitigate resistance to change - Lets not kid ourselves you’ll have a range of people in your team, some who’ll absolutely embrace change and others who’ll go out of their way to oppose it. So it’s going to be helpful to identify what you’ll need in your management toolbox to assist you in bringing those who are excited with along with you, and be there for those who need reassurance.
Think about a time when you've experienced some form of change….Ideally work related….What was it? What was the experience like? What emotions did you go through? Were you excited or fearful….However you answered, the simple truth is, we ALL go through similar emotions albeit to a lesser or greater extent. I can say that with confidence because research by Elizabeth Kubler Ross back in the 60’s identified a process of feelings each of us go through - And although her research was primarily focused on how people respond to bereavement the outputs are 100% applicable to our responses.
How can we use the change curve as a support to guide others?
The image above represents the “change curve.” The model maps the emotional responses each of us have and applies them to a time frame, basically showing the steps we progress through as we deal with and process our response to change. It’s worth highlighting it’s unlikely any of us are ever going through just one element of change. Chances are you’ve got multiple things happening that could be classed as change, so in effect you’ve potentially got multiple change curves impacting upon you in a variety of different ways all at the same time, each at varying degrees of progression, both professionally and personally.
The positive though, our personal experiences of these different forms of change will be different from person to person. So as the model suggests for some the emotional response could be extreme for others barely noticeable. For some it could take a while to make their way through each stage, whereas for others the experience is over almost as soon as it begins. I’ll bring it to life. Just imagine you’ve had an offer accepted on your first new home. Initially you’re super excited - you can't believe you’ll be moving into your dream house one day soon.
The day finally arrives and you get to move in and you experience a honeymoon period appreciating your new found freedom and the excitement of thinking about how you’ll decorate and make the place your own. Over time doubts and uncertainty creep in – can I pay this bill? What if something breaks and I can’t afford to fix it? Did I do the right thing buying this place? This negative thinking leads us to become discouraged – “I can’t believe this stupid home is limiting my life so much” “I can’t afford to socialise, all my money goes on maintenance” “I don’t have holidays anymore”.
Then finally when we’ve had enough of beating ourselves up, we move onto accepting our circumstances, Yes things suck, yes you can’t do what you once did, but you’ve got your freedom. Perhaps it’s not necessary to give the whole place a make-over 6 months after moving in! Perhaps enjoying what you got for now and taking time to make changes….this leads to….exploring options – Perhaps you begin that side hustle to generate more money, or look for a new job or rent out a room. This leads to greater confidence in handling change which means when change happens in the future you’ve built up some resilience.
Of course not all change can be classed as positive. Let’s imagine there’s an announcement at your work and your dept will be impacted – clearly this has the potential to invoke a negative emotional response – A “what the hell?!?” moment…Complete shock, and as you process this new information, there’s a sense of disbelief” “I SO wasn’t expecting that” which leads into denial ”Ah wait a sec I remember my boss telling me I’d be totally safe even if changes did happened” and when you discover that wasn’t entirely true, the red line on the change curve now joins the blue line at the depressed stage.
Depending upon the length of time it takes you to accept that you can't control the uncontrollable, only the way think and act! You’ll finally begin to move on, come out the other side, with greater mental strength, more capable of responding to change in effective and emotionally intelligent ways.
So as a manager what can you take away from this? How can you use this knowledge to support others through change? Of course even being armed with this information isn’t going to stop others resisting change – So what do we do about that? Clearly that’s a behaviour we’ll need to handle skillfully –
How to handle change “resistance”
Question…why DO people resist change? The answer may lie within why at times…YOU resist change….in no particular order it tends to be one of these…
A lack of awareness as to why change is coming
Uncertainty as to how its specifically gonna impact upon their current job role
If they’ve had a previously crappy workplace experience of change well that’s likley to be playing on their mind too.
There’s potentially a perceived lack of adequate support from the business or even their confidence in YOU and your ability to guide them through any change…
…And the fifth. There’s the understandable - fear of a loss of their job.
The question is, how will you handle this? What is it that convinces people to embrace change? Got any ideas for approches to take ? For starters…
Listen… go out of your way to better understand what each individuals concerns are.
Try to shift the focus more onto the ‘what’s changing ’ rather than their fear of how they’ll cope – The coping bit you can reasurre about because you’re here for them – right?
Find ways to show how they benefit in the long term – the important thing here tho is to keep it real – don’t make stuff up.
I’m going to assume as a leader you’re an advocate for the change… so share your own passion for it and what it means for everyone….a book by William Bridges titled “managing transitions.”highlights that it's not the “change” that’s the issue, it's the transition from the old world into the new world - think about it….From a psychological perspective, what is change?….it's this fear of losing something. Do you ,like that? I know I don’t.
It’s probably also reasonable to suggest others generally don’t like that either – hence the resistance. Think about your team members, they’ll be some that need to “see the light” all the shiny, amazing new things that are going to benefit them when the change is complete. But you'll also have some who need to “feel the heat,” they’re going to need to know the possible consequences if the business fails to act or gets left behind by the competition.
So what is you can do? What tools are there that you can tap into to ensure you’re doing all you can to support others? First up - create awareness! “Hey everybody change is coming!” Then ask yourself, what is it you can do to create a sense of excitement? You’ll also need to start asking yourself what new information, what new knowledge, what new skills will be required for others to feel confident in working within their new world. So what are your thoughts as to how you’ll make that happen? And lets not forget the most important of all. If you think people aren’t going to want to return to their old way of doing things - don’t be naive! There’s the strong possibility they may. So how are you going to ensure the new way – sticks?
So what does change management involve? What do we need to think about?
We’ve covered loads, and there’s still a ton more to explore. Take a moment now and ask yourself these questions. What is it you can tap into or organise to bring to people's attention that change is coming?Secondly, what is it you can do to create a level of excitement and build a sense of positive anticipation about the changes happening? What needs to be considered regarding the knowledge and future skills that will be required? What is it you need to put in place to provide the opportunity for people to practice and build upon those skills? And finally. What is it you can introduce or remove, to ensure that the change remains “the new way of doing things.”
I figured the following would be helpful. The following are real life examples of what’s worked for me and others who I’ve had the pleasure of working with when delivering training sessions on “change.”
How do we create an awareness that change is coming? Well this might involve – presentations, workshops, consulting with those people that are going to be impacted, focus groups, newsletters, updates on the intranet, town hall meetings.
if you’re looking to build excitement you may need to get creative, offer new benefits or incentive schemes that can be linked to the change, or perhaps look at ways to highlight how the new skills an individual will develop could lead to promotional opportunities.
what about the support required to ensure the knowledge and skills are in place so others feel confident operating in the new world? Obviously there’s training, but maybe a secondment is what it’ll take to develop new skills or perhaps the creation of a mock-up or a simulation. How about allowing time off to practice new skills? Or a coach to support their development?
And finally. What about the reinforcing of the change that’s taken place? That might look like, spot tests, incentive schemes, rewards and recognition to those embracing the new way of doing things. I delivered training to a well known drinks company and to ensure the change stuck – they removed the old processes entirely. Thereby making it impossible to return to the old ways!
So everything we’ve explored so far, is I suppose what you might call “best practice” – Prosci is a change consultancy, and as a business that’s purely focused supporting organisations navigate huge change programmes, they’ve clearly deep insight into what works and what doesn’t when it comes to business change initiatives.
They identified four key skill sets to master when it comes to being an effective “change leader.” Guess what they are?
Be a great communicator
Be a role model – let others see you as an advocate for the change.
Be comfortable in coaching others, and…
That as manager you're comfortable managing resistance to change.
Think about your team right now. Is it fair to say some are likely to be reasonably positive when it comes to embracing change, while you’ve others who are perhaps - less so? Typically there’s five sets of behaviours you’re likely to experience – so let me briefly highlight what they are, then you can consider what approach you’d take should you experience them.
There are those that are “supportive” of the change, they'll do what’s necessary , but they're probably not going to be considered true amabassadors for the change and are unlikely to go the extra mile to sing it’s praises from the hill-tops! Then there’s those who aren’t convinced one way or the other they’re “hedging their bets” I suppose you can say they’re “on the fence” waiting and watching.
Then you’ve got those team members with a - been there, done that kind of attitude – maybe a long-term employee, someone not shy in expressing how ”it didn’t work before it ain’t gonna work this time either.” Of course you’ll also have those who are completely resistant, they’ll do whatever they can to express their disapproval and go out of their way to bad mouth things and potentially look for ways of disrupting the process!
But we’ve left the best till last. Let’s not forget our change ambassadors, those who’ll “champion” the new world and the opportunities it’ll bring. They’re excited, open-minded and can't wait for the changes to happen.
Do you recognise any of these? Have you experienced handling anyone like this before? How’d it work out?
Here’s some ideas. See how similar they are to yours? If someone’s supportive but not exactly going out of their way to sing it from the tree tops – recognise what they ARE supportive of, ask for their opinions, tap into their experience, open up opportunities for them so they can be a part of the early stages of the change. There’s the possibility they could go from being supportive to an advocate.
For those that aren’t entirely convinced you’re going to need to go out of your way to better understand why they're undecided. If you can - provide answers and paint a picture (not literally obviously) of the exciting new world that awaits. With this one, be aware it may involve having to”join the dots” to enable them to better see the bigger picture
What about those who are hugely unsupportive. It’s probably fair to say they’re not always an easy one. Option 1: Might be to get them involved in stuff that's happening, that way they get to indisputably experience the change that’s happening for themselves. Option 2: Find ways to engage with them – Ask them questions. What is it that’ll convince them things will be different this time? And see how you can accommodate their request.
Then you've got those who actively go out of their way to bad mouth the change – Initially it’s going to come down to having a conversation. Establish where concerns Iay and look for ways to reassure. As hard as this one might be, in the ear with. It really is a case a listening, empathising, exploring options and offering reassurance. Clearly if they continue to actively dig their heals in. Well there’s the likelihood a tough conversation is going to need to happen!
Lets lighten the mood though. What about those who are totally up for the change! Your “change ambassadors” First up. Recognise and reward them – that might be in the form of greater engagement or offering them the opportunity to work with others to win over those who aren’t as bought in as them. Perhaps it’s about giving them information to share with others. A form of elevation in status, a feeling of importance and purpose through access to information others aren’t.
One of the most important things to remember though. Whatever you do with your champions - don't disappoint them! Breaking this trust can be hugely demotivating and damages the potential for buy-in should they ever be a prt of future change.
Wow! This had to have been one of the longest blogs as part of this leadership programme. To summarize. The key things to remember are - we're all going through change all the time. Be it in our professional worlds or in our personal worlds. Change is a process and it's got distinct phases And of course everybody's going to be at different stages at different times. And so with that in mind, consider the tactics we’ve explored and put them into practice. And good luck.
All that leaves me to do is say….I wish you all the very best in your role as leader. And of course don’t forget to go check out my website for more personal development hints tips and techniques, I’ve got videos, podcasts and links to great talks by some of the biggest names in the world of personal development…All the best.