When faced with major change, employees are often bombarded with messages. Some messages may be interpreted in a positive light; too often though, even the positive are interpreted as doom and gloom.
Regardless of the message, or the deliver medium – face-to-face, email, snail mail, Twitter, web-conferencing, whatever, all messages produce an emotional response – reaction – within the recipient. We’ve all experienced people expressing their reactions – cynical/challenging remarks, expression of anger or frustration; and suppressing their reaction – absences, longer breaks, reduced productivity, even sabotage. In reality, reactions are “dynamic homeostasis” – removal of the “comfort zone”.
Understanding, even anticipating, this reaction and responding appropriately is the role of leadership and management – consider leadership as the strategic roles and management as tactical. When there is a failure to fully understand and anticipate the inevitable reaction to change, results in an unsettling state of chaos. The pundits who write about this chaos have created other descriptors – “the absence of patterns” (Margaret Wheatley), “unfreezing” (Kurt Lewin), “whitewater” (Peter Drucker).
The Center for Creative Leadership has a change model that adapts Kubler-Ross’ grief stages: Denial, Resistance, Exploration, and Commitment. The denial and resistance stages are emotional and triggered by anticipated or real environmental changes – job changes, new procedures, new management or leadership, greater pressure to perform at higher levels, greater oversight, layoffs, reassignments, or (you fill in the blank).
But what is change? Anytime your organization wants to alter the way it does business, you are in a change situation. The following points attempt to assign dimensions to change. Change can be:
· Unanticipated (crisis – 9/11) to Anticipated (planned – Elections)
· Revolutionary (all at once) to Evolutionary (a frog in boiling water)
· Temporary (move to a new building) to Permanent (new computing system)
· Internal (measured response) to External (reactive response)
· Individual (got married) to Group (reorganization of product lines) or Organization.(sold)
· Rational (makes sense) to Irrational (what are they doing)
· Moral (aligns with beliefs) to Immoral (violates beliefs) or Amoral (no impact on beliefs)
· Add your own dimensions
So what to do? If you understand DiSC®, the following points will make sense. If you have not, send an email that includes your name, company name and address, your telephone number, and a preferred contact time to EPIC_Support@verizon.net. One of my staff will contact you to verify your information and interest, then issue you a complimentary Classic DiSC® 2.0 profile.
Before continuing, take a few moments and recall what you know about DiSC®. I suggest you get your results and review them. Now that you are thinking in DISC terms and language, read on!
1. You control how you respond to change; therefore, you are responsible for your response. When facing change ensure that you understand what is happening and its impact on you before reacting. Emotional intelligence encourages you to “think” before reacting. Look for the WIIFMs (What’s In It For Me!)
Ask questions, respectfully express your concerns, seek agreement, seek understanding.
2. Maintain your organizational culture and its values and beliefs. Stay positive. Avoid rumors, nitpicking, and negative people.
Unfortunately, many organization seek to change because the culture is already negative. See (www.strategyexecutionblog.com/2007/09/the-valley-of-d.html) to learn about the Valley of Despair.
Too often, change begins and performance improvement does not occur so change is abandoned or leadership/management is changed or (you fill in the blank from your own experiences).
When in change, communication is key!
3. Be responsible for your reactions and behavior. Remember that the main tenet of DISC is adaptation. When in a change situation, you may have to move to a different behavioral pattern in order to develop coping strategies. Always develop a plan and execute it!
