Change Management

Change management is an ability in which managers need to be proficient. It is more or less like Exodus where you are playing Moses and the people following you through the water walls in to the Promised Land. People Management is the key.

We will talk of this walk and how to manage people and their reactions to changes they want and what they are actually getting.

Always keep in mind that:

1. Different people will certainly react differently to change
2. Everyone has perceived needs that have to be met
3. Change often involves a loss
4. Expectations have to be managed
5. Fears have to be dealt with

Different people react differently to change

Change can be presented on a continuum like:

Different people have different preferences for where they like to be on this continuum. Some people like to be at the stability end of the continuum - they like things to be the way they have always been.

Then there are those who like to be at the change end - they are always looking for something different, new and challenging.

Problems arise when the individual's preferences differ from the situation they are put in. Meaning to say that, where :

• a stability-oriented person finds that circumstances are changing quite rapidly, or
• a change-oriented person finds that everything is the same and there is nothing new

In these situations, the individuals involved usually experience:

• strong dissatisfaction even to the point that it evolves in to frustration
• stress
• negative attitudes towards individuals, work and the management in general
• resistance to change
• de-motivation

People tend to resist.

 Everyone has fundamental needs that have to be met

Psychologist, Will Schutz identified three basic needs that people have in interpersonal relations. These basic needs are also of fundamental importance in people's reaction to change:

• The need for control
• The need for inclusion
• The need for openness

Every human being processes his needs and wants through his frame of references; these references pour from the individual’s likes and dislikes to which his brain has been tuned over years. On the other hand, a person’s attitude towards change is also a very important factor. Therefore, when you have look at a person’s attitude towards change you would have almost solved the change management issue, as I said earlier, attitudes are behavioral patterns that are exhaustively dominated by an individual’s frame of reference. In any change process there is always some degree of need for control over one's environment, even participation in the events leading to the change, expectation of clear and precise information of the change and its processes otherwise, it is likely to run into an array of negative reactions, ranging from anxiety, stress, frustration through resistance to partial resentment.

Change often involves a loss

The relevance of the "loss curve" to a change mature and extent of the change. If someone is promoted to a senior position, the change is rarely an issue because it has been replaced by something better. But if someone is made redundant with little prospect of getting a new job, there are many losses (income, security, working relationships) that can have a devastating effect.


Expectations need to be managed

The relationship between expectations and reality is very important. You can see this in customer relations - if a supplier fails to meet expectations then the customer is unhappy; if the supplier exceeds expectations then the customer is happy the same applies to change. If their expectations are not met, they are unhappy. If their expectations are exceeded, they are happy.

What managers have to do, however, is make sure they don't over-promise. Expectations have to be set at a realistic level, and then exceeded. The wiser thing to do.

This also reminds me of one of my clients, I was reviewing their cost budgets and their actual performance all round was just excellent, they had been phenomenal. I tried to learn the secret of their success and I did, their budgets set goals too low, therefore, under normal production they were able to beat their budgets and a little effort helped their cause. I brought this point to light in the board meeting and tore off the budget sheets, since then the CFO and COO never spoke to me, although the CIA and CEO have become very good buddies of mine.

Fears have to be dealt with

Where significant change rational thought is not clearly understood nor absorbed people often fear the worst - in fact, they fear far more than really required, their subconscious minds suddenly become illogical and see irrational consequences which just goes on to add on the anxiety and stress:

• Our company is reducing staff, which means...
• They will make people redundant, and...
• I'll be the first to be kicked out, and...
• I'll have no hope of getting another job, and...
• I won't be able to pay the mortgage, so...
• I'll lose the house, so...
• My family won't have anywhere to live, and...
• My wife won't be able to cope, etc.

Such fears (primarily negative thoughts) should be addressed, eg by helping people to know what is happening and that one individual is being made redundant will find a better job with better pay and have a huge lump sum in their pocket.

Always:

• Give people information - be open and honest about the facts, do not promise that cannot be delivered.
• For large groups, produce a communication strategy that ensures information is disseminated efficiently and comprehensively to everyone. This, however, should be followed up with individual interviews to produce a personal strategy for dealing with the change. This helps to deal appropriately with individual reaction to change.
• Give people choices to make, and be honest about the possible consequences of those choices. 
• Give people time to express their views and support their decisions, providing coaching, counseling or information as appropriate.
• Where the change involves a loss, identify what will or might replace that loss - loss is easier to cope with if there is something to replace it. This will help alleviate potential fears. Also give individuals opportunity to express their concerns and provide reassurances - also to help assuage potential FEARS.

Where you are embarking on a large change programs, you should treat it as a project and bring about all the functions of project management.