change

Change Management

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Change is omnipresent in our daily lives.  Every year companies initiate thousands of changes. Statistics show that between 50% – 75% of those changes do not produce the expected results. Research points to several reasons for this. The top reasons are:

  • Lack of Executive Leadership or buy-in surrounding the change
  • Lack of proper planning or funds
  • Employee Resistance.

Often, people resist change based on their perceptions of four factors
identified by William Bridges as C.U.S.P. factors:

Control:  How much control do people feel they have over the current situation?

Understanding:  Do the people involved understand specifically what is happening and why, in language and terms that are meaningful to them?

Support:  Do people feel they have the emotional and practical support necessary to help them get through what they are experiencing?

Purpose:  Do people feel they have a purpose in the current change that gives meaning to what they are doing and feeling?

William Bridges, in Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, discusses the idea that successful changes are accomplished by managing the transitions that people must go through. He draws a distinction between “change” and “transition” as illustrated below:

Change

  • Situational
  • Physical
  • External
  • Set time frame
 Transition

  • Psychological
  • Emotional
  • Internal
  • Variable time frame

Transition is the process people go through when adjusting to a change in their lives. There are three phases of transition that must be managed to be able to positively function within the new environment.

Ending

Whenever a change takes place, people lose something. They may lose power, relationships, familiar surroundings, a process they were comfortable with, anything that they had an emotional attachment to. To effectively manage the transition, it is necessary to identify who is “losing” what and acknowledge the loss.

The Neutral Zone

 Between the place where the old ways are over but the new ways haven’t quite settled in is the Neutral Zone. People in the Neutral Zone don’t really know what to do. Processes, both new and old, might get dropped. Customer service might go down due to confusion over procedures. To effectively manage the transition, it is necessary to communicate, over and over and over, what part people should be playing, how the change is progressing, and what is over.

However, the Neutral Zone isn’t all “life in limbo.” The Neutral Zone is where the most creative energy lies. During this phase, people are better able to come up with new ways of doing things. Given proper encouragement and authority to innovate, people in the Neutral Zone can really add value to the company.

The New Beginning

When the change finally kicks in and people have accepted the “new order” they have reached the New Beginning. In this phase, the new processes and procedures start to “feel right.”

Change is going to happen whether we like it or not, so why not be a little more thoughtful about the process.  I highly recommend reading William Bridges’ work and trying some of the strategies he suggests.  Change is inevitable but how we react to the transition is up to each of us.

Change Management Starts with You!

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Why is it that change is so difficult for people to master?  I believe that change is about loss of control.  Same old, same old creates a comfortable blanket of habit.  Habit allows us to operate on “auto pilot”.  So how can companies help employees with the control loss?  Lots!  Some of my ideas include:

  • Communicate early and often!  You truly cannot over communicate.  Use a variety of methods: open forums. newsletters, games etc.
  • Consider asking a group of employees what some obstacles might be, and then create an FAQs page addressing each of those questions.  And continue to update the list when real-time questions occur.
  • Make change part of the fabric of your company’s culture.  Discuss change openly and even create fun events around little change.  This arms your employees with practice before big, important change really happens.
  • Create a pilot group and have them involved in all aspects of the upcoming change.  They can alert management to items that were missed or not considered and they will become your change advocates down the road.
  • Execute well.  There is nothing worse than poor delivery to hinder momentum for your organizational change.

What have you seen in your workplace that helped change happen successfully or likewise, a dud?  Let me know!

Love Learning, Love Change

Posted on by Seniye Groff

I love to learn new things.  I love change.  That point of discomfort is when I know I am forcing myself out of “comfort zone”.  I know that most people try to stay as far away as possible from that discomfort zone, but I guarantee that if you are willing to color outside the lines once in a while, you will be amazed at how many new things you can learn. 

Here are some ways that I try to erase the ordinary, both at work and in my personal life:

  • I try at least two new recipes a week.
  • I try to have lunch or coffee with someone I haven’t met at least once a month.
  • I have a list of things I want to learn how to make.  I have mastered cheese, yogurt and bread and my next thing is roasting my own coffee beans.  I will be able to check that item of my list next Saturday, by the way!
  • I read voraciously and read a varied reading list.
  • I volunteer a lot and with a variety of organizations with various missions.
  • I have eclectic interests which means I have an eclectic group of friends and acquaintances which means I am exposed to a wide variety of views, interests and knowledge.
  • I love to travel.  Nothing will get you out of your comfort zone faster than going somewhere that doesn’t speak English!
  • I attend all sorts of webinars on a variety of topics…they cost nothing but my time and I usually garner at least one new nugget of information, thought or idea.