Managing Change
To be an effective leader, you must be prepared to respond to transition and change, and part of that preparation is understanding the psychological and emotional effects on you, your team, and the entire organization.
Transition: The Three Phases
In his book, Surviving Corporate Transition, William Bridges goes beyond just discussing how individuals manage transition to explore the role of leaders in helping employees in times of organizational change. He points to three main transitional phases: Endings, Explorations and New Beginnings:
- Endings is the time when workers have to say goodbye to the way they have always done things. Your role is to support employees who may feel anxious about new responsibilities, and sadness that they can no longer work with a trusted colleague or friend.
- Explorations is the neutral phase your team members may move into as they consider what impending changes mean. Your guidance and reassurance will help lead the team through uncertainty.
- New Beginnings gives everyone a chance to take on new roles. As a leader, your role is to be sympathetic to the fact that teams may be apprehensive about restructuring. You can advise them and encourage them to embrace change.
Temperament, life experiences, perceived degree of control, and resilience are just some of the factors that will influence how each person transitions from one phase to the next.
Change: Effects and Coping Strategies
Charles Kettering, renowned inventor and businessman, noted: “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” However, change may come at a cost, including the emotional impact on people as they work through it. Constant change can be stressful because it challenges your ability to cope and drains your resilience.
When implementing change, organizations often focus on the systems, processes, and outcomes, but fail to understand or even consider the emotional impact it will have on people! Preparing your team members to deal with change effectively will develop the resilience of each individual, the team and the organization. Here are some activities you can use to help your team members cope:
- Find out as much as you can about any impending changes or challenges.
- Understand the reasons for the changes or challenges and why it’s happening.
- Determine what isn’t changing.
- Acknowledge what some people will lose.
- Address negativity by shifting towards creativity, improvisation, and problem-solving.
- Break down problems and challenges into bite-size pieces.
- Listen to the anxieties and fears expressed by the team so everyone feels heard.
- Engage the team in developing a shared vision of a realistic, optimistic future.
- Celebrate your small victories.
Fisher’s Personal Transition Curve
John M. Fisher is a Chartered Psychologist whose research resulted in a framework for emotional stages in the change process, diagrammed as a Personal Transition Curve. The curve is used to explain people’s emotional response to change through defined stages that are followed in succession until they reach acceptance. This change theory is based on earlier studies by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross who identified various stages of grief.
Interpreting the 12 Emotional Stages
Robin Hills helps us to interpret Fisher’s model, and we can use his points to highlight ways you can help in your leadership role. The model shows that before the change process begins, your team might be feeling complacent about the way everything is running. This might explain why the announcement of an impending change might trigger the following emotional reactions, and how the change process can be derailed at points.
1. Anxiety (Can I Cope?)
Employees don’t really know what’s going to happen next and aren’t sure what any change will really look like at this point.
2. Happiness (At last something’s going to change!):
People may initially feel really good about the change, as this will be the chance to get rid of things, systems, and processes that don’t work. However, Fisher points out that these positive feelings may be suddenly derailed by other, stronger emotions.
3. Denial (Change? What Change?):
Some individuals may deny that change is occurring at all.
4. Anger (at self and others):
Some anger and frustration may be directed towards others at this point, especially towards those who seem to be responsible for forcing the change.
5. Fear (What impact will this have? How will it affect me?):
Your team members may be fearful that change will force them into a new way of thinking, working, and behaving.
6. Threat (This is bigger than I thought!):
Many employees may feel their jobs are being threatened and are unsure about how the change is going to affect them.
7. Guilt (Did I really do that?):
As the team leader, you may hear many express guilt over things that they haven’t managed well. With many mixed emotions at work, their ability to cope may be derailed again as they become disillusioned.
8. Disillusionment (I’m off! This isn’t for me!):
Some may decide that the change does not fit within their value system and decide to have nothing more to do with it. This is a difficult challenge for a leader. Recognizing this derailment is key to helping team members deal with their emotions.
9. Depression (Who am I?):
Some employees may feel confused and apathetic and really start to wonder who they are and what their future roles will be. You can help by sharing details and showing each individual where they fit. However, if your team members don’t like the plans, the may become hostile.
10. Hostility (I’ll make this work if it kills me *!^*):
This may be expressed as aggression toward co-workers or leaders, or against the change, in general.
11. Gradual Acceptance (I can see myself in the future):
The curve takes an upward direction as individuals start to become more emotionally detached from the situation and begin to make sense of their environment and the change.
12. Moving Forward (This can work and be good!):
Team members start exerting more control over their emotions and see how they make more things happen in a positive sense. Fisher notes that they may end up feeling complacent again, and this is something you need to watch for.
Change can be a valuable, exciting opportunity, with the right approach and focus. Coaching and empowering people through change are functions of effective leadership. The role of the leader in times of change is to:
- Show the way to explain the change journey and give meaning.
- Communicate well -- avoiding the message is not an option.
- Understand the emotional impact that change will have and empathize.
- Clarify where there is uncertainty.
- Empower people and challenge them where appropriate.
PRACTICE:
Gather employees and ask them to cross their arms. Then, once they are comfortable in that position, ask them to fold their arms the other way. It feels quite different, doesn’t it? Despite the fact that they are only making a slight change to their stance, the feeling is not the same.
Ask your employees to discuss how this small but noticeable change makes them feel. For some, the unfamiliarity of the posture might be frustrating. Or, it might just be a bit uncomfortable. However, the longer they sit with their arms this way, the more comfortable they’ll become. Relate this feeling to how an
organizational change can feel wrong at first, but begins to feel more natural as time goes on.
RESOURCES
Bridges, W. (3rd Printing, 1992).
Surviving Corporate Transition. William Bridges and Associates.
Fisher, J. John Fisher Personal Transition Curve concept and content 2000-13; Fisher & Savage Personal Construct Psychology article 1999; edit and contextual material Alan Chapman 2000-2013
Hills, R.
The 12 Emotional Stages of Change. Oct. 6, 2016. People Development Magazine.
