How to Coach Yourself and Others Influencing, Inter Personal and Leadership Skills | Page 56

These outside forces typically involve:
- A major threat or pressure from the external environment.
- An unanticipated opportunity,
- An internal crisis or setback.
These kinds of catalysts, either singularly or in tandem, can serve as the genesis for
change.
7 Strategies to overcome Resistance
Now that we understand both the fear and physics of change, let's take a look at seven
strategies designed to help you overcome resistance to change.
1. Clarify the change "event."
First and foremost, always clarify the change event. In other words, what's the itch? If
you cannot clarify the specific threat or opportunity in real, concrete a terms, you can't
advance. What's more, the change event must be identifiable not only to senior
administrators, but also to the faculty and staff actually in the trenches.
2. Create a sense of urgency.
Next, you must create a sense of urgency. A college or university might suffer declining
enrollment for a number of years with little real concern. However, showing that this
decline will affect faculty salaries or might cause a loss of accreditation is more likely to
generate a sense that something must be done. To create a sense of urgency, key
audiences must understand in real and concrete terms how the change event will affect
them. Either show them how their lives will be diminished if the threat is not dealt with,
or how their lives will be improved if the opportunity is accommodated.
3. Develop a course of action.
Once you have identified a threat or opportunity, you must develop a course of action
that is clear and simple. If it is not dear, people won't understand how it will deal with
the issue. If it is not simple, people will get bogged down.
As you think about your course of action, however, keep in mind two important
fundamentals:
First, a good response created and acted upon quickly is much better than a perfect
response that takes forever to Formulate.
Second, don't get too focused on a need for consensus. Consensus sounds great, and
change-management literature is chock-full of strategies for achieving it. But the fact is,
total consensus almost never occurs. So, rather than consensus, seek just enough
consensus. Get enough people on board, especially the right people. Don't worry about
the vocal 10 percent who seem to oppose your every move. Let their peers work on
them; you work with the go percent who are willing to be led.