by Patrick Seaton

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Many managers face open resistance to changes taking place in their organization.  What is most important to understand is whether the resistance is based in a positive or negative spirit.

For those readers who recall my prior column where I talked about How to Change People.  In that column, the first thing to do when trying to change people is to let them change themselves.  The second bit of advice I gave was to focus on the processes so that people would truly understand what an upcoming change means to them and their daily workflow.

As managers, supervisors, leaders, change agents, change sponsors, or change champions, we really can’t force anybody to change their ways.  What we can do is inspire the people to want to adapt their mindset and actions to reach the goals and promises that come from an improvement.  We can provide a safe, open communication-friendly, no-blame culture where people are encouraged to ask any and all questions they have about a change or improvement.

Most people react to change with very simple questions about how their work will be affected and how their world will be impacted.  While they don’t use these exact words, they really are most interested in knowing if their work space is going to turn upside down, or not.  I view these types of questions as positive.  I would even go so far as to say that employees have a right to pose questions like this before they are expected to jump on the support bandwagon for a change.  Even those who have been burned again and again by poor change implementation are not mean spirited.  They are simple very skeptical and need more convincing and information to counter their previous experiences.

There is a small percentage of people who will try to sabotage efforts and resist change efforts in a negative fashion.  Find these people and make sure they do not influence others in the department or company.  However, I caution not to be too quick to judge people as negative unless you have ample information to come to this conclusion.

When I’ve come across change initiatives that have stagnated, I like to bring in the people responsible for effecting the change and have an open dialog with them.  I first review the current state of the situation.  Sometimes I’ll go back to a previous state and show the group how they have grown/changed to get to the current state.  I then flesh out the desired future state with the group.  Once I get everybody to agree on the benefits of the future state, understanding how their jobs will change, I then probe into the obstacles that are keeping them from reaching the future state.

Once the obstacles are identified, I ask the people to provide solutions for removing the obstacles.  Getting their ideas on how an obstacle is “removed” from their perspective and yours may be totally different.  Don’t assume your way is their way.

Now I can tell you that if a future state involves downsizing people and those people are present, don’t expect them to jump on the bandwagon.  While you may not be able to change what will happen to them down the road, you can always coach them for the future and ask them if they want to be part of the change process, knowing their future state.

And if the proposed change will indeed make their life chaotic, unstable, and frustrating, then why would they support the initiative?  Your responsibility at that point is to work through the chaos, instability, and frustration to help them find a calm, stable, pleasing environment.  This may need to be done one-on-one.

So let’s put this into perspective with a very simple example.  Let’s say you wanted to reorganize your office layout three months ago.  Not a huge, life-shattering event to you, but the project has stagnated and nobody has taken the initiative to start the shifting around process.  What could come out of a simple group barrier analysis session is that one key person in the chain of dominoes moving around is unhappy with his/her new location but wasn’t asked for input before the plans were finalized.  While in group session, if that person does not bring up his/her discontent with the new location, then shame on him/her.  If he/she does, then find out what the solution is and see how the request can be accommodated.

The answer should not be to let the project stagnate.  Define the problems, generate solutions, and implement the solutions.

Yes, this was probably a simple example for you.  However, simple changes like this can get very emotional and personal for some people.  What’s a non-issue to you may be a huge issue to them.  Dig in, explore the reasons, and get people aligned to the goal as quickly as possible.

Until next month!

Patrick Seaton
Innovative Management Tools LLC
www.innovmgmt.com
pdseaton@innovmgmt.com
715-340-9606

by Patrick Seaton

This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

The one question I get asked more frequently than any other is “How can you get people to change?” Many managers and business owners I talk to seem to be really stumped by this question. They feel that people are always resisting change, that people want to keep things status quo, and that people fear change.

1. Let People Change Themselves
While there are some very challenging people and change initiatives, changing people is not as mysterious as one might think. I have found that there are seven things to consider when you want to “change people” and the first thing may surprise you – let people change themselves.

Let’s look at the following scenario: An employee (let’s call her Susan) is sitting at her desk on the ground floor on a bright sunny day. A visitor pulls into the parking lot and the sun’s reflection off the windshield comes blinding through the building window and hits Susan right in the eyes. What does she do? Remain as she is, blinded by the light? No. She will most likely change her sitting angle, close the blinds, or move her chair. Does she grumble at the visitor? Probably not. She changes and corrects the situation herself.

Now Susan has just closed the blinds so she can work and her supervisor comes by and tells her, “The quarterly report doesn’t work for me. You need to change it to a monthly report,” and leaves to address her next urgent matter. Susan will most likely grumble because she doesn’t seem have a say in the change. She is being forced to blindly accept the change regardless of what that means to her workload and her process for generating the report. Susan doesn’t support the change as it stands right now.

I don’t think that people resist change. I think they resist being changed when the change upsets their processes, their space, and their day.

2. Focus on the Processes
This step is critical. The majority of our employees are process-minded people. They keep the “machine” (our companies) running as work moves into their workspace, they do their part, and they move it on to the next person. The faster you can bring an upcoming change initiative down to the process level, the better. As we’ve all heard, talk is cheap. However, when you can bring a change idea (talk) down to the level of how it will impact your employees in their day-to-day workload and processes, they can begin to truly understand what the change means to them, the department, and the organization as a whole. Once they internalize the change to these levels, they can express valid concerns or show support and ultimately begin making the change a reality. If they aren’t able to bring the change initiative to this level, they are left guessing what the idea (talk) really means and they are hesitant to give their full support.

3. Secure Employee Buy-In
This is done by involving the employees in the change process, using their ideas and process expertise to your advantage, and by creating a culture where employees are encouraged to raise concerns before a change takes place.

4. Define Internal Positioning
This item might surprise some people, since what it suggests is often either taken for granted or is considered a luxury activity. It is important that all employees clearly understand how they as individuals and how their department fits into the organization and supports the goals of the organization. Developing internal positioning documents create benchmarks that can be used to determine how much an upcoming change will have on the individuals and the department.

5. Recognize Challenges
(This is one of my favorites.) Very often, managers feel as though they are doing their employees a favor if they sugar-coat or minimize the challenges that a change initiative will present.

6. Invest Time Upfront
I am amazed that we feel that we can’t afford ourselves a few hours of planning and preparation time when beginning a change initiative (even when people have concerns and questions) but we always find the time later for 15 hours to undo, rework, and redo the work. Employees would prefer investing time upfront instead of fixing problems later.

7. Use the Proper Tools
And finally, use the proper tools to guide the change process. Find tools, strategies, and training that are designed to connect your strategies and initiatives with the day-to-day workloads. For it is only when these two points are connected when you will begin to realize success with your change initiatives.

So there you go. No rocket science. Just solid people skills and strategies that put a process to that intangible concept called “change.”. Next month we will take one of these topics in more detail – defining internal identity – the luxury item that provides a very critical foundation and benchmark for your employees. Until next month!

Patrick Seaton
Innovative Management Tools LLC
www.innovmgmt.com
pdseaton@innovmgmt.com
715-340-9606