2. People Focus
All organizational efforts have one thing in
common - PEOPLE.
People effect change and change affects
people.
People cope with chaos.
People make or break organizations.
3. Anticipating Behaviors
There are certain events that are likely to
occur during change.
We can know the typical behaviors that
people display during change and make
our plans with those in mind.
We can anticipate them and take specific
actions based on the probability of their
occurrence and our ability to lower the
hurtful side effects of change
4. Managing Communication
Selling Messages
The sober selling of change will have to be
done over and over.
Sell the positive and why we must make the
change but don’t neglect the price of change.
The sober message is that change must
happen in order to survive. And the
metamorphosis in between leaves us as a
gooey mess. The change means that for a
time we are incompetent. It is awkward to do
new things
5. Fear of loss = RESISTANCE
What distinguishes change that is
embraced from the changes that people
resist strongly is the fact that welcomed
change is typically understood in
advance, whereas resistance stems
from perceived loss--loss of the known
and tried and loss of personal choice.
6. Advantages > Effort to Change
Willingness to Change Factor
rt
Effo
s
Stres
tages
Advan e
r
Desi
7. Pull Rather Than Push
Make people aware of best practices.
Make people aware that you are adjusting to
change also.
Don’t assume that silence means everything
is fine.
Ask open ended questions and listen
carefully.
Allow time to adjust.
8. 5. Individual Response to Change
Lacking freedom of choice about
change usually provokes more
resistance than change itself.
9. It’s all about Control
What happens when you tell a smoker they
have to stop smoking?
A. They stop smoking
B. They smoke at the same rate
C. They increase their rate of smoking
10. Give Me a Choice
Give employees some choices.
(You can have them set up their
area according to some guidelines
that allow some flexibility.)
Find something they can
implement.
Ask their opinion
11. Communication is Key
The key issues are:
“What will happen?”
“When?”
“What will happen to me?”
Answering these questions decreases
ambiguity, reduces anxiety, and restores a
measure of control - although the pain of the
transition will still exist.
12. Choices –
Light Candles or Curse the Darkness
“It is not what people do to us that hurts
us. In the most fundamental sense it is
our chosen response to what they do to
us that hurts us.”
Stephen Covey
Editor's Notes
Change is a messy business. It ’ s not paint by the numbers. We can never know exactly how the future events are going to turn out. Murphy ’ s law reigns. What we can do though is know the typical behaviors that people display during change and make our plans with those in mind. There are certain events which are likely to occur during change. We can anticipate them and take specific actions based on the probability of their occurrence and our ability lower the hurtful side effects of change. Lucy and the chocolate factory – suddenly everything familiar changed and so it will be for our people.
The degree of people ’ s resistance to change depends on the kind of change involved and how well it is understood. Thus, what people resist is not necessarily change per se but loss, or the possibility of loss. “ Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.” Pliny the Younger (A.D. 61-113)
Selling message. If the long-term rewards to be gained from the change are no greater than those enjoyed formerly, the stress cost outweighs the future advantage. If the new advantages outweigh the old but are not well understood by those making the change, again the effort involved will not seem worthwhile. Only if the advantages are greater and are desired sufficiently to outweigh the efforts required to make the transition are people likely to embrace change willingly.
What is your rationale for the change? The point is that we are a team. We are not trying to hang you out there by yourself. Your success is our success. "I want you to remember," says General George S. Patton at the opening of the film Patton, "that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.“ 911 story Acknowledge their viewpoint don’t necessarily agree but at the same time don’t minimize concerns. Lots of support at first, morale and team building – empathy & encouragement
When one ’ s feeling of freedom is in jeopardy, the immediate reaction is likely to be an attempt to regain this sense of freedom. This reaction is so strong, in fact, that people frequently will not bother to defend their beliefs and may even change them to oppose others ’ attempts at changing them. In some cases, the issues of advantage and change are in conflict, leading to a situation in which people may prefer to continue on a path that is not in their best interests rather than to give up the feeling of free choice.
Research shows, for example, that when a smoker is told to stop smoking, his or her typical reaction is either to continue as usual or to increase the rate. The degree of ease and success with which an organizational change is introduced is therefore directly proportional to the amount of choice that people feel they have in determining and implementing the change. People have a strong need for control. This need can be met psychologically by being able to anticipate their future. A battered wife will remain for years with physically violent husband. Women have reported that breaking out of the relationship was more frightening than the beatings. They at least knew what to expect and there is an odd comfort in being able to anticipate the future - even a negative future. When perceived reality matches expectations, a sense of control is achieved. There is balance. When reality does not match expectations they must adjust to changes they were unprepared to face.
People affected by change should have as much understanding of the change and its consequences as is practical, as much influence in developing and controlling the fate of the change as feasible, and as much trust in the sponsor and agent as possible. A clear sense of mission or purpose is essential . The simpler the mission statement the better. “Kick butt in the marketplace” is a whole lot more meaningful than “Respond to market needs with a range of products and services that have been carefully designed and developed to compare so favorably in our customers’ eyes with the products and services offered by our competitors that the majority of buying decisions will be made in our favor.”
