Ensuring Stability During Change
full
newsletter | printer
version
| send
feedback
_________________
Introduction
The magnitude, complexity and pace of today's changes mean continuous disruption to the operations and workforce of your organization. When you are
in the midst of major change, one of the smartest things you can do as a leader
is to consciously create the experience of stability—at least some stability!
Creating stability may appear counterintuitive in a fast-changing organization,
especially if you are aggressively investing in your people’s change
readiness and capacity. All the more reason to give this strategy its due!
The experience of stability is not intended to stop or reduce the impact of
change; it is designed to give people a greater sense of control and balance
to fuel their ability to actually make change. This article reviews the six
key strategies for ensuring the sense of stability while your organization
changes.
_________________
The Value of Stability
You could interpret the term stability to mean “things staying the same,” which
is the opposite of change. Stability in the context of change is the ability
to hold steady amidst the disruption of moving forward. It is foundational
to creating confidence, knowledge, clarity, and predictability, all assets
during change. If you lead your changes so that everything important to
people is in flux over a long period of time, people can burnout, become
dysfunctional,
or struggle with emotional crisis. None of these are good to have when
you need your organization to change in major ways and still function successfully.
The key is balance! A critical strategy is to build in the conditions that
enable your people to access some stability amidst change, to consciously
build in the familiar and predictable while the chaos of change unfolds,
and to keep
some stability present and encouraged during the full lifecycle of change.
Here are strategies for doing this.
_________________
Maximize What Stays the Same
In the early stages of change, you will have clarified what needs to change
in your organization, identified your desired outcomes, and performed
an initial assessment of the magnitude of what you are about to do. Before
communicating
your case for change and your strategy for making this change, think
through how much of your organization and culture already supports
your future state,
and can stay in place. One principle of good change leadership is to
change as little as possible, and carry forward the best of what works
to support
the creation of your new reality. Do not throw the baby out with the
bath water!
Recognize and maximize what is already familiar and effective that fits
the future you are creating. The familiar and effective aspects of your
business
take less energy to move forward than recreating everything, as long
as they are fully aligned with the true needs of your future state.
_________________
Communicate to Provide Clarity and Comfort
Communications during change are essential. Well-informed people are
far more confident than those kept in the dark. So are those who have
the time
to understand
the implications the changes will have on them and their work—before
they are cast into the throes of the disruption. Don’t impose change
on your people by surprise. Design your change communications to optimize understanding
and maximize time for inquiry and emotional adjustment. Frequent communications
about your outcomes, your change roadmap, and the status of events can help
people to feel that things are “under control.” The clearer
you are about what you are asking of the people who must make the change
on the
ground-with some time for the news to settle, the more comfort you will
create for them.
Beyond communicating about the change, also convey your organization’s
operating achievements. It is hugely satisfying for people to know that
the organization remains effective while it is undergoing so much change.
Maximize familiarity. Keep your people informed and engaged in the
activities of the change using terms they understand. Do not flip
the switch to
new terminology or jargon without fully ensuring that your people
are comfortable
with the
new concepts or terms. It is better to continue with language they
understand until their role in the new state is clear and underway.
_________________
Minimize Disruption through Good Planning
There are three components to good planning: logical sequence, timing,
and capacity to act. Take care of all three as you create your roadmap
for change.
Even if your people must undergo huge changes, a clear and logical
process plan will add to their sense of stability, as will a realistic
timeline
and the space and skill to perform what is required.
Think of the comfort you experienced the last time you used MapQuest
to drive to a new destination. The detailed guidance was clear,
sequenced, and informed
by appropriate distance markers. And presumably, you had the ability
and
time to accomplish the drive. The same is true for your change
plan. Make sure your
people have the time and ability to complete their change responsibilities
as well as their ongoing workload. Do not impose the change on
top of people’s
operating workloads. You can not drive in two different directions simultaneously,
and neither can your people. Both change and operations require their attention,
so ensure that they have the time to realistically do both.
We must note that the MapQuest analogy only goes so far with complex
change. Given the unpredictability of most large-scale changes,
be sure that you
upgrade your roadmap in a timely and clear manner. Set the expectation
for such course
corrections early (they are inevitable!), and then communicate
them without drama. Your plan, no matter how well conceived, will need
to be adjusted
to your change reality. It is critical that your people understand
this part of
making change and are not caught off guard by it.
_________________
Maximize Early Employee Engagement
Engaging your people early on can minimize the emotional upset of
change by figuring out how the organization needs to change and
how you—and they-collectively
will make it happen. People who invest in the questions about change—the
what, the why, and the how—will be far more comfortable with making
the change they have shaped. Engagement is a key strategy for ensuring
stability.
It is very important to engage your people in figuring out the
implications and impacts of the change on them and their part
of the organization.
When they have had a chance to think through what is being asked,
and what it
means to their work, they can more easily identify what they
can carry forward that
already fits the requirements, and then what they need to stop,
dismantle, or create anew. This level of forethought, when supported
with time
and encouragement, is a strong contributor to people’s sense of comfort,
even if the information they produce means making a lot of change.
_________________
Reduce the Negative Impact on People
Once you know your desired outcomes and their implications, think
ahead about the impact of the change on your key stakeholders.
Will many
people lose
jobs? Will they need to move or be trained in new skills or technology?
If so, use
this data to create “temporary” policies and actions that will
affect your people in less stressful ways. Temporary policies and practices
can greatly reduce people’s upset, such as ensuring employment security,
salary protection, and training in new skills or technologies. If your
change means significant displacement of people, you can guarantee a range
of support
to those affected to ensure that they will land on their feet. Communicate
these policies and actions on the heels of your initial announcement about
the change. These declarations early in the process, can generate good
will and minimize upset. Then be sure to fulfill your promises as you go!
_________________
Design Your Change Process to Maximize Stability
Beyond communication, there are two key strategies for your change
process that can give people greater stability. The first is
the timely celebration
of milestone achievements along the way. Celebrate the progress
you are making in public and in engaging ways. Recognize the
people who
are modeling
the
new behaviors and working in the new ways. Engage the groups
of people most affected
by the change in these celebrations. Your intention is to create
the conditions where they like this new state they now need
to live in.
The second strategy is to build in mechanisms, time, and events
to ensure integration and mastery of the new state beyond
initial trainings
and
pilots. These follow-up
events or meetings can help people understand, settle into,
and develop competence in the new state. People need time
to figure
out how to
make things work,
and to explore and refine their best practices. You can also
design these experiences
so people see the big picture of the new organization, and
where they fit in it. From this larger perspective, it is
easier for
them to build
relationships
across organizational boundaries so that everyone can master
their part of the whole. This can have a very beneficial
effect on stabilizing
the
new state.
_________________
Summary
Proactively building in ways to maximize the experience of stability during
change can ease the challenges to your organization for both operating effectively
and making major change. You can create a balance between the dynamics of change
and the comfort of stability that can help you accelerate the achievement of
your outcomes without undue burden to your people. Take advantage of the value
and power of stability during change. It is smart change leadership.
full
newsletter | printer
version | send
feedback
Questions or comments about this article? Let us know what you think.
_______________________________________
See you next issue, and the best in change to you!
_______________________________________
RESULTS FROM CHANGE is written by Linda Ackerman Anderson and Dean Anderson, and is published by Being First, Inc., www.beingfirst.com,
1242 Oak Drive, DW2, Durango, CO, 81301, 970/385-5100.
This is an opt-in only newsletter. To subscribe to the HTML version or to unsubscribe, use the form at the top of this page or go to:
http://www.beingfirst.com/resultsfromchange/subscribe.php
Copyright 2008, Being First, Inc. All Rights Reserved
top of page
Are you serving in a leadership position
for an Association or Professional Organization?