BEST PRACTICE
T
oday’ s business owners need to be on constant alert to the impact of persistent and complex change.
Rapidly progressing technology, talent demand and innovative competitors are only a few of the many variables that make it impossible to establish a“ future proof” business that can automatically accommodate all potential challenges.
As a result, leaders need to be agile, flexible and responsive in their approach to change. They need to constantly notice, adapt and respond in order to ensure their business practices meet the needs of the evolving commercial landscape.
Such change is constant. Such change is hard. So hard, in fact, that recent research( McKinsey’ s, 2016) suggests that 70 per cent of business change efforts fail to fully meet their original brief. To bring about change in oneself, or in others is really difficult. It is. But why is this?
Each of us experiences change constantly. So why is it that we don’ t seem to get really good at it?
Typically, when we have done something enough times, we get better at it. Isn’ t that what Gladwell says? 10, 000 of intentional practice will make us an expert? But from toddler to adulthood, we have each experienced many hours of practice at change.
So why is it then that we don’ t get any better? In fact, the opposite seems to happen. The more we experience it, the more assured we are that the next change that comes our way, will feel familiarly disorientating, frustrating and confusing.
William Bridges( 1991) got curious about this paradox. As he studied change, he realised that there are in fact, two components to any change, one of which challenges us more than the other. One he named the“ change”, the other the“ transition”.
The least challenging component is the“ change”. Think of it as the“ thing”( eg. implementing the new payroll system, recruiting a new employee, securing a new customer).
Bridges sees,“ change” as situational, mechanistic, functional. The“ change” has its own related and practical elements, including the end goal, key milestones, associated activities and resource requirements. It can therefore can be planned. All this takes effort. Agreed. But Bridges noticed that it’ s not what causes us the most discomfort.
Change: it might be inevitable- but how do you cope with it? asks Michelle Murtagh, Programme Director, William J Clinton Leadership Institute
He suggested that it was, in fact, our psychological and emotional response to the change, that we find most challenging. That emotional“ transition” that occurs as we“ let go” of what was, in order to move onto the“ new beginnings”. He concluded that,“ it is not the change that does you in … it is the transition. They are not the same thing”.
And it was this unsettling impact of transition that also drew the attention of Dr Elizabeth Kubler Ross.
She noticed that we humans did, in fact, all experience transition in a relatively predictable manner. Her work has since been adapted to reflect the following six stages of emotional transition:
• Shock;
• Denial;
• Frustration;
• Anger / Depression,
• Testing and
• Acceptance.
To bring the model to life, let me illustrate it with an incident that happened to me last week.
I was on my way home, after a busy day at work, sensing the very near possibility of collapsing on the sofa with a lovely cup of hot tea, when I got pulled back into reality with a call from my husband, explaining there was no milk.
Seeing the petrol station ahead, I decided I would pull in and get some petrol at the same time. Two birds with one stone! So I filled the car up with petrol, wandered into the shop, bought the milk, queued, paid and went back out to the car.
I then reached into my coat pocket for my car keys but they weren’ t there! I froze momentarily …( SHOCK).
My internal selftalk then went along the lines of,“ NOOOOoooooo! You have them! They are here! They must be! Check all your pockets!”( DENIAL)
Then I heard myself say,“ I can’ t believe you have lost your car keys. They are your only set. How could you have? Why did you do that?”( FRUSTRATION)
I then heard a harsher tone,“ It’ s all his fault. If he hadn’ t called me to get the milk, I would be at home already. And look at all those cars waiting to get petrol at this pump.
All late now because of him!”( ANGER) Then I heard my inner narrative soften,“ You are always loosing things. Last week, it was your purse. And you still can’ t find that ring. You need to face it. You are getting really old. This is what happens.”( DEPRESSION)
Then the pace changed to more of a challenge,“ Catch yourself on! Think it through. The keys are either in your coat, in the bag or in the shop. Get a grip.”( TESTING)
Then,“ All you have to do is check each one in turn and you will find the keys. It will be ok. Now, start with your coat pockets first...”( ACCEPTANCE)
We experience these six stage emotional responses to every change we encounter, large and small.
However, the duration and intensity of the associated emotions varies, depending on the change.
So for example, my misplaced car keys incident demanded that I go on a 30 second rollercoaster of emotional response, whereas it can take up to four years for an individual to transition through all six stages when coping with redundancy, death or divorce.
And it is worth bearing in mind that is not, necessarily, a linear process. Instead, we often slip back and forth between stages and sometimes, we even get stuck in a stage.
So what does this all mean?
Change isn ' t optional, but inevitable. Therefore remaining cognisant of the fact that those at the receiving end of any organisational change are human beings and that it is,“ they who will ultimately cause the change to be a success or failure”( Scharmer, 2015), then it is essential to remain vigilant to the challenges that change brings.
The theories and models mentioned here are helpful in that they provide us with an understanding of the impact of both“ change” and“ transition”.
They then encourage us to spend more time gathering information, getting curious and listening attentively in order to notice more. Finally, they prompt us to purposefully create the right conditions for effective and successful change, at both a practical and an emotional level.( Oh, and the car keys? I’ d left them at the till …!)
22 www. businessfirstonline. co. uk