2. Why do people resist change?
Fear due to:
• Uncertainty
• Lack of control over change
• Don’t understand the need for
change
• Don’t see any personal benefit
from the change
• Lack of trust due to poor
experiences with previous
change
4. People LOVE change!
• When they feel that they control it
• When they understand why change is
needed
• When they don’t feel like it is being
forced on them
• When they feel that there is something
in it for them
• When they feel that they will be
supported throughout the change
5. Essential constants for effective change
“We manage things; we lead people.”
Change management is really change leadership.
Honesty & Transparency
CurrentState
Consultation, Communication & Collaboration
Active and Visible Leadership
DesiredFutureState
9. Keep Chuck
Change Add
?
Share control
Clarke,J.,2010.Tedxperth-JasonClarke-EmbracingChange.[online]Availableat:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhM8lxibSU>.
10. Reduce uncertainty
Things we
used to be
able to do
and still can
Things we
couldn’t do
before and
still can’t
Things we
used to be
able to do
but can’t
now
Things we
couldn’t do
before but
can now
Business as usual Changing
Clarke, J., 2010. Tedxperth - Jason Clarke - Embracing Change. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhM8lxibSU> .
11. Regularly check in on emotions
I’m feeling positive about… I’m feeling interested in… I’m feeling worried about…
How do you feel about the change?
13. “We will be returning to face-to-face working in the future.
But it will be different. It will be more flexible.
To make that work, we need to change and GROW.
Together, we can make it happen.”
15. 1. Start having 1 on 1 discussions with your team
members about their views on what the ideal
‘new normal’ looks like.
2. Arrange a group meeting and present the
results of your 1 on 1 discussions – keep it
anonymous, unless people want to speak up
3. At the start of the group meeting, set any
conditions that must be met, or parameters
that we must stay within, for our vision (the
goal).
• i.e., corporate policies, standards, etc.
4. Have the team develop a shared vision for
what the ideal way of working in the future
will look like.
Goal
16. Discuss the current reality with the team:
• Where are we now?
• How did we get here?
• What are we worried about?
• What are we excited about?
• What are we interested in?
• What is working well?
• What is not working well?
• What resources do we have?
• What is the organisation doing?
• What are other teams doing?
• What is common practice?
Reality
17. Ask the team, “What options do we have available
to us to help us achieve our vision?”
1. List all the Opportunities:
What will we keep, chuck, change or add?
• Don’t rule anything out…yet
• Have a no “yeah, but…” policy
2. List all the potential Obstacles
3. Do a simple cost/benefit analysis of each
identified option
4. Rule out any options that are not feasible
5. Adjust the Vision if necessary
6. Identify any possible solutions to identified
obstacles
Options
18. What we will do…what is the way forward?
Create an agreed action plan:
• What options will we pursue?
• How will we pursue them?
• How will we manage the obstacles?
• Who will be responsible?
• What resources will we need?
• People
• Physical
• Financial
• When will each task be completed?
• How will we monitor progress?
Will
19. What we will do…what is the way forward?
Review and confirm with the team:
Will
20. Check in on emotions at the end of the
meeting and throughout the change
I’m feeling positive about… I’m feeling interested in… I’m feeling worried about…
How do you feel about the change?
Which of these can be managed, and how?
Uncertainty:
Humans are prediction machines; and our survival instinct naturally has us fear the worst
Uncertainty makes us fear what lies ahead for us; we are more worried about threat than reward, so instinctively focus on threat
Minimise this by:
Be transparent about what is and what isn’t changing; even bad news reduces uncertainty.
Deliver news personally and empathetically.
Provide a roadmap for change that involves high levels of collaboration, and training and development in the new way of working
Lack of control:
We like change when we feel that we have some control over it; think about buying a new car, a new outfit, or planning a holiday.
Minimise this by:
Involving team members in designing the change (within set boundaries – be clear n what those boundaries are)
Don’t understand the need for change:
When we don’t understand why a change is needed, we are less likely to subscribe to it. It’s seen as unnecessary effort, pain, or suffering.
Minimise this by:
Top management need to spruik the importance of the need for change, and link it to the organisation’s Values, Vision, Mission, Objectives & Strategies
Leaders at all levels need to support top management with consistent messaging, and pass those ‘WHY’ messages down to their followers
Don’t see any personal benefit from the change:
We change individuals; not organisations. Everyone is different and we all have different wants and needs. As we focus on threat first, we need our thoughts directed to the rewards or benefits of change. The must be personal.
Minimise this by:
Supervisors need to work one-on-one with each individual and discuss the personal benefit, or ‘what’s in it for me’ of the change
Have early adopters speak openly about their positive view of the change; have them speak at team meetings
Lack of trust due to poor experiences with previous change:
When previous change processes have been managed poorly, we lose trust in the leader or organisation’s ability to manage change. We feel like change is done to us. We think it’s a waste of our effort.
Minimise this by:
Focusing on the current change. Get this one right.
Reach out personally. Explain any lessons learned from previous change attempts, and how you’re doing it differently this time. Reassure team members of the good things, and the support available throughout the change. Keep the roadmap for change front and centre of the team’s attention.
Change involves doing things differently, and often in ways we’ve never done before. We are learning through this, together.
Different people have different emotions throughout change.
It typically follows a curved path of fear, denial, anger, acceptance, contentedness
Often, this correlates with a loss of productivity and progress towards the change
Good change leadership reduces the time spent on the path
Leaders are changing too, plus leading the change. So monitor these emotions in yourself and your team members. Keep your eyes and ears open for others in the organisation.
It’s important that we are clear on WHY change is needed, and WHY we need to do it now.
Top management need to spruik why change is needed.
John Kotter calls this; “creating a sense of urgency”. Prosci call this, “Creating awareness for the need for change”
COVID-19 has shown us that we need to be more adaptable in how we work. For heath and safety reasons, we also need to maintain social distancing at work.
WE WILL BE RETURNING TO FACE-TO-FACE WORKING IN THE FUTURE. BUT IT WILL BE DIFFERENT. IT WILL BE MORE FLEXIBLE. TO MAKE THAT WORK, WE NEED TO CHANGE. TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Leaders across the organisation need to support each other and send consistent messaging.
Leaders; formal and informal, need to be the conduits of all formal change messaging throughout the organisation.
Informal leaders can be opinion leaders; people who others seek out for opinion on certain matters and would respond affirmatively to that opinion.
The central change manager of change management team should not be the deliverers of change messaging; that comes from executive, department and team leadership.
Top management will be more conceptual their messaging, while front-line leaders will be more personal and in their messaging and how change will practically impact people.
Kotter calls this, “building a guiding coalition”. Prosci call this a “coalition of sponsorship”.
We need a positive, uplifting vision of what the future state will look like.
This can be at organisational, departmental, team and individual level.
Having staff contribute to creating that vision make the vision a shared one, and one that creates desire for change.
Great for giving the people some control over the change, within their circle of influence and control.
These 4 questions are great for leaders to reduce uncertainty about a change.
Uncertainty leads to fear.
Fear leads to resistance through fight, flight or freeze emotions and behaviours.
Good to gauge feelings.
We are people.
People and organisations are complex.
We don’t know what next week holds for us, let alone next month.
It’s therefore important that we look up every now and then to make sure we are headed in the right direction, but then focus our attention to the path in front of us. Everything could all change tomorrow and require us to adjust our path.
We need to continually Plan – Do – Check – Act for the life of the change, in significant increments throughout the change, in timeboxes of up to 8 weeks, 2 weekly, and daily.
The emphasis is to always be working on only the highest priority actions, and being nimble enough to alter course when needed.
Good to gauge feelings.
We are people.
People and organisations are complex.
We don’t know what next week holds for us, let alone next month.
It’s therefore important that we look up every now and then to make sure we are headed in the right direction, but then focus our attention to the path in front of us. Everything could all change tomorrow and require us to adjust our path.
We need to continually Plan – Do – Check – Act for the life of the change, in significant increments throughout the change, in timeboxes of up to 8 weeks, 2 weekly, and daily.
The emphasis is to always be working on only the highest priority actions, and being nimble enough to alter course when needed.