Leaders - Change Guides LLC - Guiding Organizations Through Change

Helping Others Say a Hearty “Yes”

April 25, 2011/0 Comments/in Change Management, Communication, Leaders/by admin

Joseph Campbell, best known for his work in comparative mythology, is quoted as having said “the big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” Although this quote wasn’t made in the context of organizational change, I have been thinking about the applicability to change management. The best change leaders do just that, they help organizations and the people within them say a hearty yes to the adventures ahead.

Although saying yes and opening up to adventure sounds great, it isn’t the first instinct for most of us. Most of us instead instinctually have questions… we want to know more about how we will be impacted. We say “maybe,” “let me think about it”, or “this isn’t what I would have chosen.” Just take a moment to think about how this dynamic may play out over and over again in your own life in small ways. We know that people tend to try to re-establish a sense of control, and most of us probably have ample personal examples of that to draw on. Now from those simple examples, think about how it feels to hesitate, and how it feels to say yes. Questioning can feel like a like a lot of intellectual work, and saying yes can feel like an emotional release and even bring cautious exuberance.

Good change leaders understand the natural hesitancy to say a hearty yes. Having questions, gathering information when applied productively can lead to good things for individuals and organizations. In fact the ability to address the logical reasons for change, to outline the business case, is critical for any effective change leader. This is the price of admission. And this task alone, the intellectual challenge of winning over the minds, can be a challenge.

The best change leaders however recognize that there is another significant piece of work to be done, to win over the hearts. This is the emotional work of letting go and opening up to new ways for now. Great change leaders move people not only through compelling arguments, but through paradigm shifts. In my observation, what moves people from “no” to “hearty yes” is less often an intellectual argument, and more often a feeling. The moment when individuals shift from a position of hesitancy to a space of possibility is often more about inspiration, vision, and trust. An intellectual argument might get you to the place of a reluctant yes. But great change leaders take organizations to the space of a hearty yes… to the space of possibility, creativity, collaboration, flow.

To speak to the hearts of employees often takes a great deal of courage. It means acknowledging the very human side of business, which is often devalued. It means talking about things that are sometimes uncomfortable. It means addressing fears and telling the truth. It means reducing the uncertainty when you can, and acknowledging the unknown when it exists.

As I reflect on some of the best change leaders I have worked with, the ones that inspire a
hearty yes, I realize that they are also great story tellers. This is something I imagine Joseph Campbell could appreciate. They make the complex simple and they use metaphor or analogy to create an “ah ha” moment that allows people to embrace possibility. The research of Dr. Robert Leahy, Director of the American Institute of Cognitive Therapy, shows when people are anxious they often fill in the unknown with a negative outcome. The best change leaders offer a story that fills in that uncertainty with possibility, and
calls the individual forward.

This story telling might be as simple as saying “but what if…” in a focused one-on-one conversation. Or it may be painting a radical picture of the future for a crowd. It may be like suggesting you can’t see a masterpiece through a pin hole. Whatever the method, great change leaders help individuals feel moved to step into the journey. That although there is an uncertain outcome, there is great possibility particularly if we choose to say a hearty yes to our adventure.

Contributed by Gina Giannitelli, a Consulting Director at Change Guides LLC

Fear During Change

March 15, 2011/0 Comments/in Change Management, Communication, Leaders/by admin

Fear increases when organizations are in transition. Leaders fear failure. Workers fear the unknown. Fear during change is normal but it shouldn’t be ignored. Fear distracts people. Fear drives unproductive behavior and causes poor decision making.

Lack of communication usually increases fear during change. Workers are great observers of behavior. They see leaders meet behind closed doors. They see high paid consultants come in and meet with leaders. They sense important decisions are being made but the leaders aren’t talking. This leaves the workers to their own thoughts and fears. Will there be lay-offs? Will I be laid off? Will my department change? Will my boss change? In the absence of information, people make stuff up. We know from research that people tend to fear the worst. Their fears are almost always worse than the reality. They guess and feed off of each other. Without leaders talking, the rumor mill is the main source of information (even speculative information is better than no information).

Thus, I’ve found part of my job as a change consultant is to reduce fear. I counsel leaders on how to communicate during change. They need to follow a set of rules such as: 1) tell what you know, what you don’t know, and when you’ll communicate more, 2) have consistent, compelling messages so employees understand why the change is happening and the scope of the change, and 3) communicate what is NOT changing which is just as important for employees to understand. I counsel the project team on how to best reach out to employees, involve key people and expand ownership of what is coming. These tactics help employees better understand the change. With a set of principles and tactics, fear can be reduced. It can’t be eliminated entirely but it should be addressed. You don’t want fear to distract workers and drive behavior. Change is hard enough without rampant fear.

The Impact of Culture on Organizational Change

March 9, 2011/0 Comments/in Change Management, Culture, Leaders/by admin

You may have heard it before… “Culture eats Strategy for breakfast.”

An organization with the best strategy in the world, but a culture that won’t allow it to make that strategy happen is doomed from the outset. Want to be the first to market with the most innovative products, but live in an organization that is full of bureaucracy and afraid to take risks? Fat chance you’ll be the first one anywhere. Want to have the highest quality, lowest failure rate of anyone but live in an organization where rules are lax and people make decisions quickly without much data? Chances are you will be chasing initiative after initiative trying to make your goals happen to no avail.

Culture is the sum of the beliefs and values that shape norms of behavior and dictate the ways things get done. There are several continuums that help define an organization’s culture. Is the organization driven by results and achievement, or relationships and people? Does the organization have an internal focus, or an external focus? Is the organization adaptive and flexible, or is it structured and stable?

Culture tells you a lot about an organization. What messages do leaders send with their words and actions? What type of behavior is being reinforced? Is conflict and risk encouraged or hindered? How do people communicate? How do people learn and share company knowledge? Is the organization open to change?

Some think that it’s too hard to change culture… that we can’t change it even if we know what gaps we have between our current state and our desired culture. Not true. There are real, tactical activities and leadership actions that can shape a new culture.

For example, if the organization lacks the needed focus on customers, then insist that every manager and above spend at least one day a quarter out in the field with customers. Or if your organization makes decisions on the fly and doesn’t us import data (not a good thing for, say, a pharmaceutical company), then insist that all projects use Six Sigma or similar tools. Or if your organization is too cautious and can’t move quickly enough to respond to new demands (not a good thing for, say, a software company), verbally encourage teams to make decisions faster and try new things… and then throw a big party the first time one fails as visible demonstration that we appreciate and value risk-taking and new ideas.

If we are serious about change in an organization, we can’t ignore the organization’s culture. If that culture is not consistent with the change that needs to come about, then the culture needs to be addressed head on. If we as leaders decide that we don’t want to do our part to change the culture, then we will live with the consequences of failure.

Leading the Change and Smiling for the Cameras

February 8, 2011/0 Comments/in Change Management, Leaders/by admin

Leadership comes in all shapes and sizes. Some of it is innate, some of it is learned; some of it is clearly definable, some of it is more esoteric; some of it is easy to recognize, some of it sneaks up on you.

Studies have consistently confirmed that the greatest contributor to successful organizational change is leadership. In repeated studies of hundreds of companies and their change efforts, “Strong Executive Sponsorship” was cited three times more frequently than any other contributing factor to successful change.

Why does leadership have such a huge impact on change? Because people support what they think their leaders support. If they don’t think their leaders are really going to make a change happen, they figure they shouldn’t waste too much time or effort thinking about it. They figure they have an “out” to just ignore. If they duck down in their cube long enough, all of this change stuff will blow over. For organizations that have tried to change in the past and failed, people feel even more justification in believing they can wait it out and nothing will come of it in the end.

But how do people really know what a leader supports? Certainly anyone in a leadership position is going to be telling their people that the big new thing is going to be great for the organization and the people. But people develop their perceptions about what leaders support not only through leaders’ words. Leadership action is even more important. Acting in ways that are consistent with words is the magic combination that moves people to act in new ways that leaders define.

It is like the leader is the celebrity and the employees are the paparazzi. People are watching what leaders do and say, and they are filtering all of that information to figure out if they should be on board with a change or not. Talking the talk is useless if walking the walk doesn’t follow.

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Being a Rebel Isn’t all Bad

January 25, 2011/0 Comments/in Change Management, Leaders/by admin

I always knew that being a rebel had an upside… Are you are Rebel or a Leader? Hopefully both! http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/01/are_you_a_rebel_or_a_leader.html

Mergers… Hold on to Your Hats

January 17, 2011/0 Comments/in Change Management, Communication, Leaders/by admin

We have a client that is in the throes of a merger. One of the decisions the new combined leadership team made was the realign all of their offices under a new leadership structure. It makes sense given thier new size and scope of services. Now each location will report to a new boss.

In the Denver office, people were eager to meet the new boss on the day of his first visit. Well, maybe not “eager” so much as…. “anxious”. There was talk that this new boss had a track record of closing low performing offices. “We’ve been having a rough quarter. I bet he’s going to tell us they’re closing our office.” “I heard from someone at another office that he is a real jerk and will shoot first and ask questions later.”

Why on earth would people assume the worst without even meeting this guy or learning of what the ultimate plans are? Simply because they are scared of the unknown.

When people are uncertain about the future, they instinctively seek out greater control, better understanding, and human support. Rumors are a completely natural human response to help fill those needs for control, understanding, and support in a time of uncertainty and change.

The act of speculating and commiserating with peers is a real way to feel more control by talking through a situation and discussing alternatives. Studies show that, in the absence of information, people just make stuff up… and they most often assume a far worse outcome than reality. It is interesting that we don’t really care if the information is correct. We just want to know something to make us feel like we understand what is going on.

And those same discussions help people feel supported by others. Time spent sharing gossip or conjecture with peers helps people feel as if they are not alone in their fears.

If people don’t have a constructive way to channel their drive for control, understanding and support, they will fill those needs themselves, in ways that are sometimes not advantageous to the organization. People are talking, whether leaders are a part of the conversations or not.

To effectively manage uncertainty and change, be proactive about connecting people and encouraging them to share their thoughts and fears in controlled, rational forums. We are not talking about free-for-alls where everyone moans and complains about management. What is needed is the chance to share ideas and fears, and a forum for the transparent flow of questions and answers.

When a merger happens, some productivity dip is natural. But leaders need to guide people through change in order to minimize that dip. By guiding the conversations that people have about uncertainties, leaders can keep people motivated and focused on the right targets without unnecessarily taking their eye off the ball.

The Eight Constants of Change

December 27, 2010/0 Comments/in Change Management, Communication, Leaders, The Change Management 101 Model/by admin

If you are experiencing or leading change in your organization, you should know the Eight Constants of Change. A change manager who doesn’t have a good grasp of these incontrovertible facts about organizational change will face an uphill battle making change happen.

The good news is that learning about the Eight Constants is easy – and free! Listen to this podcast on iTunes featuring Stacy Aaron and you will get a sense of the basics of organizational change in a jiffy. http://tinyurl.com/stacypodcast

If you are inspired, you can learn even more by reading the Eight Constants of Change – What Leaders Need to Know to Drive Change and Win (Aaron and Nelson, Change Guides, 2008). Happy New Year and Happy Changing!

Build the Management Team, and Propel the Change Forward

December 7, 2010/0 Comments/in Communication, Leaders/by admin

Groups of management peers with similar titles and similar levels of responsibilities can be hotbeds of dysfunction. These people often competes for resources, promotions and attention. But unfortunately for organizations trying to transform, this group is integral to effectively changing the way an organization works. Management teams need to work together to achieve goals but sometimes the environment encourages the opposite.

If the leaders don’t create the right environment, managers focus solely on their individual fiefdoms, their silos. If resources and attention are scarce, this group can become a cesspool of finger pointing, competing, back stabbing and ganging up.

To prevent this limited focus, leaders need to set the right tone and stage for this group to work effectively and successfully. A few things can be done to encourage these managers to work together, tackle problems as a team and leverage opportunities cross functionally:

The manager group needs common cross functional and organizational goals
Managers need to be recognized for team efforts
Leaders need to handle the troublemakers
Managers need tools and training on how to work together

As employees and managers, we work within the limitations of our work environment. We work within the rules and expectations that surround us. We respond to signals about what is important and what is valued. When that environment encourages unproductive behavior, new signals need to be sent, new rules and expectations delivered.

A Simple Word – “Thanks”

November 23, 2010/0 Comments/in Communication, Leaders/by admin

When many of us in the US are getting ready to hunker down with family and friends to enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday, it is a great time to think about giving thanks at work.

It’s so easy to forget to say thanks. We are all busy. There are a million things going on. We expect people to do their job and get on with it. But just showing someone a little appreciation now and then can mean the difference between a “punch the clock” mentality and a committed and engaged co-worker.

Leaders are often trying to figure out the best ways to incent people to do their best. Of course they talk a lot about money. And money is certainly nice. But when leaders just take the time to show some true and honest appreciation for the work people do, the sacrifices they make, and the extra effort they spend…. they are always surprised by what a difference it makes in the outputs they see.

And saying thanks is not just on the shoulders of the boss. We should all thank our peers for their support, their ideas, and their companionship. And we should even thank our boss for what they do.

You likely spend more waking hours with your co-workers than you do with your family and friends. These people are like your family. Like it or not, you are in this together. You are a team. You are there to catch each other if someone falls. You are there to catapult each other over the wall. If any one person in your organization fails, the entire organization suffers.

Be grateful for each other. And tell each other “thanks”. People will appreciate it. And so will you when they thanks back.

Just Treat People with Respect

November 9, 2010/0 Comments/in Communication, Leaders/by admin

I was in a situation this week with a client where I witnessed a “higher up” treating someone who worked for him in a way that was completely and totally appalling. He was rude, he was condescending, he was just down-right nasty. Sadly, this is not totally new behavior for this guy. I have seen it a few times – this was just the time that it really seemed “over the top.”

This guy doesn’t walk around exuding “mean”. In fact, he very adeptly hides his nastiness with a veil of a “fun guy” persona. He is always quick with a witty story, a funny joke, or comfortable banter about weekend plans. But when push comes to shove, he can just be mean.

As the nastiness was unfolding before my shocked eyes, it was clear that the root of this guys bad behavior was firmly planted in his own transition through this change. While he is a leader of the change we are working on, he is also affected by it.

If I look at his behavior through the lens of an observer of organizational change, I see a person who is struggling to maintain control and a sense of purpose… not just a rude guy.

He is not a project management guy, but he was put in a project management role… a highly visible project management role. He is trying to control the you-know-what out of every element of this change. Unfortunately, his efforts are backfiring. Every time he clamps down and treats someone like doo-doo, his team members check out even more (several are already looking for the exits). “Why should I bust my hump putting together a 20 page strategy or a detailed plan if I know you are going to dump all over it and basically start from scratch anyway?” They have a point.

It must also occur to him on occasion that there is not job “waiting” for him when this project is over. If this project goes well and happens quickly, there might not be a place for him. And if it goes poorly, there might not be a place for him either! Not an enviable situation. But he is not doing himself any favors by chasing team members away and behaving poorly. A highly visible role is a double edged sword… the executives he is interfacing with are not dense. They see the nastiness and are not digging it.

I don’t believe he is a bad guy. But there are lots of other people who experience change and uncertainly without getting mean about it. All he needs to do is treat people with a little respect. It’s not that complicated. I hope he makes it.