Several Tips on Managing Change - [733 words]
Change can be difficult [often], change can be smooth [infrequently], and change can be challenging [always].
Whichever fits your situation, you can count on change being inevitable. The following are several common sense tips for managing your organization’s transitions smoothly.
Don’t drive your people off cliffs
Well that’s seems ridiculously obvious. Except we violate this daily. Too often, based on our experience and organizational position, what we see as a minor slope [change] is perceived as a cliff by our people.
As a ski instructor I observed that every hill looks like a cliff to an inexperienced skier. Their fear is very rational. How would you like to drive downhill in a car with no brakes or steering - - on a road dotted with trees and meandering pedestrians? Add to this the lack of any knowledge of how fast you will go and you now are inside the head of most first-time skiers. This analogy may help you understand why your people may fear and resist what seems to you to be "simple" changes.
As a certified ski instructor I learned that there was a method to successful learning. That method has variations, but always includes making it safe and fun — in that order. To do this the instructor must make a physical and mental assessment of the would-be skier. These same methods enhance organizational change and learning situations.
When your people are about to ski off a new "cliff", it is very helpful to have an expert along to coach, guide, and mentor. Someone who can show them what to expect, be trusted to create a safe learning environment, help them positively learn from their mistakes, encourage their growth, and make it fun.
Just telling people to "go for it" is not sage advice for most people. I’ve never found jumping off cliffs challenging, just stupid. And the answer is: "Yes, I’ve jumped off more than one cliff, encouraged others to do the same, and on occasion even ‘pushed’ people off cliffs." The results have usually been the same - a disastrous "learning" experience that created a tense person who feared the next change.
Common sense managers help their people accept change by turning cliffs into doable safe and fun hills. Skiing is like leading in that there will always be new, steeper, and more challenging hills. It’s the cliffs we want to avoid.
Quick Hits
For years I’ve warned executives to be cautious of consultants who say it will take extended periods to produce significant organizational change. The same caution applies to change efforts you intend to sponsor. One effective way to do this is to look for "Quick Hits" within your improvement effort.
A quick hit is a measurable improvement within thirty days that is congruent with the overall change effort.
Quick hits enable your people to experience observable progress within the first thirty days. This reinforces their acceptance of the change effort as a positive productive process. This is especially important in today’s organizational climate where many people have become cynical as a result of being repetitively asked to partake in the "Latest, Greatest, P.O.T.Y" [Program Of The Year].
Another great benefit of quick hits is the increase in your boss’s comfort level and support because of seeing measurable improvement.
We use quick hits in all of our consulting. In addition to the above benefits, quick hits enable us to build credibility with our clients and the improvement process. By "paying" as you go, you to can build credibility with your people and bosses who are paying thebills.
People resist surprises, not change
I have found that most people accept change. Many even look forward to it. Likewise, I have found that with the possible exception of parties, nobody likes surprises. The difference is degree and timing of their involvement in the process.
The common sense manager accepts her role of determining and communicating what needs to be done. With equal enthusiasm, she includes her staff in figuring out how to get it done. Significantly involving your people in the change process eliminates resistance producing surprises.
People - - - differences
When introducing change, remember that all people are not the same. Some people:
Want changes to happen
Make changes happen
Don’t want anything to change
Watch things change
Don’t care what’s changing
Hope nothing changes
Don’t even suspect anything is changing