How to Coach Yourself and Others Influencing, Inter Personal and Leadership Skills | Page 53

When some choose to Opt Out...
Listen to their reasons and acknowledge that they are valid.
Ask what they want to do next. Help keep them focused on the fact that there is a life
outside of your organization and that they can contribute. Tell them what you see as
their strengths.
Offer assistance in some meaningful way. Provide some degree of outplacement
assistance knowing that not everyone would stay the course. The benefit to the
company: enhanced reputation as a place where everyone is valued, even when their
talents no longer fit the current circumstances.
At this point, people are Moving On. Keep moving...the next change is just around the
corner!
Please Remember This: People who are wrestling with change aren't items to be "fixed".
They're people who are being people.
And Change invites Leadership. In the midst of disruption, we all want two things:
Understanding and Direction. This is an opportunity to offer both.
1. The change curve above summarises typical reactions when you have change thrust
or forced upon you
2. However, when change is owned and initiated by you it is a different kettle of fish
(e.g. you will avoid the negative red emotions shown on the change curve and enjoy the
green emotions and a great sense of achievement).

Therefore, the best way to manage change is to help create it.
Change: No Closure Means Extra Exposure
Closure is a must when it comes to change, because if it isn't permitted or encouraged at
the right time, it will come back to haunt organizations at the wrong time. Unfinished
business demands completion. People require completion. So make your choice: Do it
the healthy way or the disruptive way. Either way, it will happen.
Here's what I mean: The models presented in this article up to now are linear and show
what appears to be a beginning and an end. Nice and neat. They do a good job of
helping us intellectually grasp the emotional elements of change.
Yet the truth is, our lives and business lives are filled with ongoing changes. The end of
one thing breeds the beginning of another. And each major change brings with it a sense
of loss of what represented stability.
In business, we readily talk about sales cycles, business cycles, "going full circle", and
"closing the loop". None of these is linear.
So here's a diagnostic question: Do we practice what we preach?
Most large-scale change models talk about "cementing" or "institutionalizing" the desired
change. To do that, there needs to be an event or ceremony that acknowledges or even
celebrates the past in order to let it go. Without such an acknowledgment, the cement is
nothing more than silly putty. The past and its related issues will bounce back when we
least expect it.
I'm not suggesting a global event of mass proportions for every change. I am
encouraging organizations and the change agents within them to recognize the need of
the human condition to reach legitimate closure in some way before moving on.
And after all, "People Are Our Most Important Asset." That's what your Annual Report
says.