CHANGE: NIGHTMARE OR OPPORTUNITY?

By Barry Schutte • January/February 2018 • Issue 59

Whether you are experiencing it personally or professionally, change is a challenging thing to deal with and in business, getting it wrong could be costly indeed — not only financially but in confusion, lost opportunity, wasted resources, and diminished morale.

Some may cringe at the thought of modifying systems, marketing material and personnel procedures, but change is both good and necessary. In fact, without change, your business would likely lose its competitive edge and dwindle away. Imagine if we hadn’t bothered to integrate email and Internet into our businesses and were still sending our customers letters via post? The economy, evolving customer needs and technology are only some of the reasons we must embrace change.

Nokia is a good example of how failing to embrace change can damage your business. At its peak in 2007, Nokia held 41 percent global market share. This is huge considering that even now, at any given time, Samsung and Apple both hover at around 20 percent each. Unfortunately for Nokia, as the ‘moguls’ they thought themselves to be untouchable, until an influx of cheaper, basic phones flooding the market forced them into a chaotic new development, the Lumia, which proved to be ‘too little too late’.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT CHANGE

Change management often fails because leaders and change managers approach it as a simple concept. They believe that changing the system is sufficient, not recognising that in order to be effective, individuals within the changing environment must also adapt their beliefs, thinking and behaviour. Before you can begin to apply change management principles to your organisation, it is important to take note of a number of flawed assumptions about the topic.

REASONS WHY CHANGE MANAGEMENT FAILS

1. Change can be mapped out in a series of solid steps.

This assumption supposes that the world is a static and orderly place which is simply not the case.

2.Change can be managed.

Again, this assumption supposes that the world is a static and orderly place when unpredictability and uncertainty abound.

3. Leaders and change managers are objective.

It is impossible to be 100 percent objective — however much we try to avoid this, every individual operates with biases and is influenced by their personal preferences and perspectives.

4. Change itself is the goal.

Change should be a means to an end, but not an end in itself.

Carolyn Aiken and Scott Keller, principals at the worldwide management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, have identified several insights into how human nature can get in the way of successfully applying change in an organisation:

Money is the most expensive way to motivate people.
Leaders believe that they already are the change needed.
What motivates leaders doesn’t necessarily motivate their employees.
Both the process and the outcome must be fair.
Employees are what they think, feel and believe in — not what their leader thinks, feels and believes in.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

Change managers need to understand the principles of change in order to implement it successfully.

Senders and receivers

It is vital to realise the difference between senders and receivers of information. The meaning that the sender applies to the information may differ materially from the meaning the receiver discerns from it. How receivers interpret the information is dictated by their map of the world and influenced by their education, past experience with other changes at work, information gathered from friends or colleagues, and whether or not they trust or respect the sender. A statement like ‘change is imperative if we are to remain competitive’ issued by the sender, might be interpreted by the receiver as ‘you may not have a job in a few weeks’.

Change managers must be clear in their communication and understand how their message may be received. They must be willing to listen to employees and be prepared to rephrase and re-explain messages that may have been misinterpreted.

Resistance

Change managers need to embrace and deal with the fact that any proposed changes will meet with resistance. Change creates anxiety and fear; a state that has tremendous holding power over the employee. There is more to the resistance, however, than just their emotional response. Factors such as the impact on their work, the trustworthiness of the people communicating the change, and the organisation’s track record of handling change, all play a role in the resistance. Change managers who embrace the resistance and prepare for it, will be much better equipped to assist their employees with this difficult principle.

Value systems

Change managers must have a clear understanding of the values of their organisation – what it considers important, how decisions are made, the behaviours that are recognised, and who is in charge. Listen and observe, gain insight into the leadership structure of the organisation, and adapt your change strategy to incorporate your value observations.

CHANGE IS NOT INSTANTANEOUS — IT’S A PROCESS

Perhaps the most important principle is understanding that change is not an event but a process — we move from what we have known, through a transition phase, to arrive at a new way of behaving and/or doing.

An announcement or meeting won’t miraculously spur everyone into the change process; you need to evaluate and focus your change management depending on where individuals are in the process of change, remembering that no two people will experience change in the same manner.

When it comes to managing the impact of change, it is important to do just that — manage it. Think about the effects it will have, keep in mind the principles above, and stage the communication in such a manner that it will receive the response and effect that you desire.

4 WAYS TO APPROACH CHANGE MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVELY

There are four principle conditions that are vital for altering employee mindsets and that should be considered when considering change management within your organisation.

Employees must understand the reason for the change and it is vital that they agree with it (at least to the point where they are willing to try it).
Implement reward and recognition systems that are in tune with the new behaviour(s).
Employees must have the skills to do what is required of them.
Employees need to see the people proposing and implementing the change, actually embracing and modelling the change themselves.

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