Embracing Change.
There is no doubt about it, change is amongst us each and every day whether we like it or not. You will often hear managers and leaders saying ‘we are going through a lot of changes at the moment’ when in reality, it’s a constant and inevitable.
It’s not just about managing change, but instead about how you embrace and survive change on a day-to-day basis.
Your role as a manager is to fully understand how people react or respond to change and do your part to help yourself and others.
A word of caution, reading this article will not make you a change expert, but it will arm you with some valuable insight that you can use to ensure you are identifying and responding to your own needs and those of the people around you. Change comes in all shapes and sizes and can affect people in ways that you may not even begin to be able to understand. It’s not always big changes that you will need to deal with, such as restructures, new business acquisitions, or mergers, in fact, it will most likely be much smaller events that could have a similar size impact on a member of your team which could include:
New or revised processes or ways of working
New starters joining the team
People leaving the team or the business
Desk location moves
Facility adjustments
Customer or product changes
Regulation changes or amendments
New technology
Budgets or financial adjustments
Competitors
This is not an exhaustive list; in fact, the list is probably endless. The point is you must be consciously aware of the impact of day-to-day activities and changes instigated by you or others on both yourself and those around you.
Change can be thrust upon us, instigated by us / our actions and therefore our and other people's motivation towards it can vary significantly. Sometimes the changes that WE put in place may be met by our own lack of motivation.
“It is not necessary to change, survival is not mandatory” - W. Edwards Deming
MOTIVATION TOWARDS CHANGE
The subject of human motivation is a complex one. What makes us tick? why do we do what we do and how to get (and stay) motivated? These are questions that fundamentally come down to understanding how we’re wired as human beings. Motivation is defined as the reason for acting or behaving in a particular way - motivation is a personal choice that comes from within. An individual can't be motivated to do something they don’t want to do, especially if it is not aligned with their values and beliefs. You do things for your OWN reasons and that includes wanting to change. It’s personal to you, and when your motivation for change is unlocked, it will create a response. Remember, the catalyst for change is never a matter of ability; it’s a matter of motivation. Here are the different ways in which people can react to change (remember, these may change for each person depending on the change itself, their personal values and beliefs, their circumstances at the time, their experience, and so on).
Panic
The most common reaction to change is panic because the person does not know what the change is going to bring. People tend to panic because they become insecure about their job, fear the new approach, or speculate about what might happen after any change takes place. Your role as the manager in this instance is to calm panicky employees and bring reassurance to the workspace during the transition.
Confusion
Confusion is another very common reaction. People are confused about whether the change is for good or bad or whether they should remain and accept whatever has or will come about from the change. Usually, the confusion subsides as any change reaches implementation so as a manager you must offer higher levels of support in the early stages and work hard in your communication to mitigate confusion.
Joy
People who are unhappy with the existing circumstance or those who understand the positive aspects that the new change is going to bring, react joyfully to change. They are excited and handle change positively. These individuals play a major role in ensuring that the change process is easy for the business. As a manager, this should be fairly simple to manage and can be key in helping others in another mindset.
Denial
Some people who are set in their ways and do not like to alter their routine live in denial of the changing surroundings. With this kind of attitude towards change, these people do no good to themselves or to others. The challenge you will face as a manager is convincing the person that the change is going to go ahead. Remain calm and patient and work with the individual step by step.
Refusing to change
Denial of change is bad, but refusal to change is dangerous. A lot of people refuse to change when they are faced with a phased or longer-term implementation of change. Handling these individuals is slightly tough because they tend to be stubborn. Good managers use the power of influence and persuasion to get these people to come around and accept change.
Helplessness
There are people who feel totally helpless when they face change. They experience a mixture of emotions. They feel panic, fear insecurity, and other negative feelings. A bit of coaxing and assurance helps these people feel empowered to face change positively
Change champions
There are however people out there that you have probably met, or will meet in your role as a manager, who simply embrace change and are advocates for it, every single time! They act as change agents or raving fans for new ideas and new ways of working and can be a huge advantage to you as a manager. Keep your change champions well informed and utilise their optimistic views of new things to help convince and influence others.
THE CHANGE LEVERS: PAIN AND PLEASURE
To support your team and colleagues around you through the varying reactions to change, it's important to understand that the catalyst for change is never a matter of ability; it’s a matter of motivation. What motivates people to do what they do is based on one of two things: the avoidance of pain or the gaining of pleasure.
If you ever find yourself or others fitting into some of the challenging reactions to the change that we have describes, it’s likely to be for one of two reasons; Either you haven’t created a picture of the future, driven by a compelling reason and purpose that are going to pull you/them towards it (pleasure), or you haven’t experienced enough pain to give you/them the impetus you/they need to take action (pain).
Why do people visit the gym at the beginning of January? If you are an active gym user, you’ll probably notice how the gym is suddenly full at the beginning of the year as people act on a resolution to get into shape. After Christmas, most people feel that they’ve overindulged over the previous month (if not for long) and feel overweight and unfit, so they decide to do something about it. They are responding to the need to avoid further pain.
Most people quickly give up, and only a few see their resolution through. The pain isn’t a strong enough lever to keep them focused and, at the point they decide to give up; they haven’t quite experienced the pleasure lever yet. They haven’t hit the tipping point.
But those who stay the distance tend to experience something else. While they are also trying to avoid pain at first, as time goes by, they begin to notice that they are stronger and fitter. Their friends begin to say things like ‘You’re looking great!’ ‘You’ve lost weight!’ ‘That shirt looks amazing on you …’ Suddenly the lever of gaining pleasure has taken over, and their motivation steps up to another whole level.
Which is the most significant lever for most people: pain or pleasure? Most people make decisions based first on the avoidance of pain (their primary driver), not the gaining of pleasure (their secondary driver). Pain is the catalyst for action, but pleasure is the continuation of action! When someone is in pain, it is our natural human instinct to try to help take that pain away. Pain is usually considered bad. But as a human motivator – as a driver of change – pain can be a positive driver of change, delivering positive results.
CREATING CHANGE THAT STICKS
Start with the end in mind
Before you set out to change anything for yourself or others it is really important to start at the end. By fully understanding what a great result or endpoint will look like, you can set out to achieve that outcome.
Knowing what good looks like means you can plan and prepare the necessary steps for the journey you are about to undertake.
You could start this process by answering a few questions:
What does success look like to you and those involved?
How will you know you have been successful?
When will that success like be achieved? What hurdles or barriers will you have overcome along the way?
Who will be involved by the end of the change?
Be clear on where you are going before you set off on the journey
Understand the WHY?
One of the challenges, when we get into adult life, is that life conditions us to stop asking the why questions, we lose that childlike instinct.
Emotion vs logic - emotion is far more important than logic. When we need either ourselves or others to make a change, we must dig deep and connect with our emotions first. The answer to the question ‘why’ can go a long way to satisfying those emotive needs. Why is change happening? Why is the change needed? is a critical part of the change journey and helping people to connect with that ‘why’ can reap dividends throughout the process.
Communicate and get people on board and involved
Step three is about getting those that are involved with the change People behind you and/or the change itself. It’s about creating a support network with words of influence, assurance, and encouragement.
Share the details of the change that is required and the reasons why it needs to happen. It is critical that you communicate the ‘why’ at this stage to each person involved. The why will help you to create that emotional buy-in to help you implement the change. Help those involved understand what this means to you, to them, the business, and the customer, and finally what help you or they will need. Holding each person accountable will keep everyone motivated to create that lasting habitual change as people don’t want to let others down.
Think about the different personalities that you have in the team and how they typically respond, or how you expect them to respond to the change and prepare and adapt accordingly. By investing time before you engage with people to really consider your approach will ensure you are more successful in those initial conversations and the longer-term impact
Have a great plan
To get where you want to be (future stage – the end in mind), you need to know where you currently are and the steps you’re going to take in between.
Know your beginning, know your end, know, and map out your route and create your checks and measures to assess your progress along the way.
Be amazing
This comes down to making the change. Often the starting point is always the hardest. Start immediately. Making the change is the starting point; the challenge now is to keep driving forward. Not giving up when it gets hard. Don’t lose focus and if your or others' motivation starts to dwindle, act immediately
FINAL POINT
Change is much easier when it’s embraced.
Rather than trying to manage change, which is a brilliant task to master but one that people spend a lifetime learning to do, instead of managing the behaviour of yourself and those involved in the change instead.
It will have a really positive impact.