Handling Change in
Organisations
See also "Why
the High Failure Rate" and "Making
Change Work Every Time"
Everyone is placed in
situations that require changing their lifestyle, thought patterns and job
environment. For some these changes happen regularly. For some they happen
rarely. But one thing is for sure, change ALWAYS causes stress at varying
levels. Handled correctly it can be made a pleasure.
Our world has created enormous
changes over the past 50 years. The resultant stresses are causing serious
mental and physical health issues that in turn translate into huge economic cost
at personal, business and government levels. By handling the PERCEPTION of the
change properly, a great deal of needless anxiety and serious consequences can
be avoided. The perception of change and its expected outcomes must be
understood by the individual at an unconscious level in order for the stresses
to be reduced to a minimum. This is a very different process to presenting the
need for change only at a conscious level and expecting the individual’s memory
and values system to accept it.
The perception that personal
change is different to organisational change is erroneous. Both have the same
effect if handled wrongly, but ultimately an organization behaves in exactly the
same way as an individual undergoing change. The only real difference is that in
personal change the stress arises from conflict between ill informed parts of
the mind, while stress in organizational change is derived from conflicts
between parts of the organization (other minds). Where both parts conflict at a
personal level and parts conflict at an organizational level occur, very serious
consequences will be displayed.
In both situations the Values
System of the individual parts needs to be recognized and in some cases modified
before stress levels due to change can be reduced. Using very advanced
techniques of modality evaluation, we can now identify possible conflicts before
a change regime is put into place, reducing the potential for disharmony and
personal stress. The economic benefits of this become apparent when you consider
the real cost of illness and staff turnover of an organisation.
Handling of both personal
change and organizational change needs to consider the individuals in a change
process as individuals. This involves understanding a number of factors
including:
- Values systems
- Ability – technical and
learning
- Previous history of change
- Reaction to historical
change
- Perception of proposed
change
- Perception of work
colleagues
- Perception of the
individuals place in the organisation
- Ability to integrate
technology change
The second most important
component of handling change includes an assessment of:
- What extra commercial
risks are introduced through the change.
- The real need for change
to occur
- The speed with which
change needs to occur
- Based on the past history
and expectations of staff, will the change be seen as positive or negative
from their point of view?
- Does the change involve
technology upgrades that will require higher skill sets?
- Does the staff expected to
integrate the technology change have the capacity to do so?
- Will effective training
staff be available to transfer skills required?
- Will the company or
organisation provide the resources to ensure the education process required
by individuals PRIOR to change being implemented?
Given an understanding of these
factors, a good change manager will be able to develop a highly effective custom
program to implement any kind of change. This applies whether the change is
implemented by a therapist on a personal level, or a manager on an
organisational level.
In an organisation each level,
from senior management through to support staff must be evaluated for their
ability to implement and solidify changes required. Often, management recognize
the fact that “something” is going wrong, but have no idea how to fix the
problem. Experience shows that this level is so engrossed in the day to day
running of the business from a technical and corporate governance perspective,
they ignore the fact that the organizational organism is made up of people.
It is a mistake to believe that
individuals can just “role with the punches” and accept any change foisted upon
them. It is also a mistake to try to use hard sell techniques to convey the need
for change. These techniques do not work and never have. Those people may have
widely varying values systems and the resultant conflict creates high levels of
anxiety, anger and depression in organizations, leading to low productivity,
substantial staff turnover and high illness levels. The illnesses are no
different to the problems presented to me on a daily basis as a therapist and
stress management consultant.
A good Change Manager is fully
aware of these issues at a personal level and puts in place effective strategies
to handle the potential fallout from large scale change before the change
is implemented. He/she then must monitor the entire process until the individual
and organisation are back in a stable environment. By doing this large potential
losses can be avoided and the desired result from the change will be seen sooner
in the bottom line.
Once the risk assessment has
been completed and a customized organisational development plan has been agreed
upon, the plan is implemented in the following order:
- Senior management is
coached in what to expect and how to respond to challenges and resistance to
the suggested change.
- Second tier management is
trained in the requirements for introduction of new systems or technologies
so that they are seen by staff to be congruent with the companies outcomes
and are part of the implementation.
- Training sessions for each
group of staff members is implemented in a way that does not disrupt day to
day business to a damaging degree. This training takes into account the
intelligence gathered about these groups and their likelihood to resist the
change, accept a move in company policy or efficiency or become part of an
overall fostering of renewed pride and security in a congruent corporate
environment. This training is supported by regular communications to all
staff on the progress and especially in the change in customer or other
stakeholder’s perception of the reinvigorated company.
- Systems and technologies
are implemented in a staged process and level of acceptance and integration
is monitored by the change management and senior management group.
- Additional training and
communications are added as required to cement the change and make it a
permanent factor in the company.
It is important through all of
this that potential increases in stress levels be monitored and reacted to in a
confidential way for all staff. Done correctly, a properly designed and
implemented change program will reduce the risk of abnormal stress blowout and
increase productivity by inducing a higher level of pride in the company and
increased work satisfaction at all levels of management and staff.
Gary Johnston offers consulting services
to organisations wishing to implement change that involves staff, organisational
structures and systems in order to minimize commercial disruption and look after
the wellbeing of staff.
Contact us now
to see how we can help your organisation change smoothly, without stress or
strain.
