Don’t manage change! Manage people! From my experience, both as a consultant and as an employee, the minute leaders decide change management is necessary is the minute things get weird. Those determined to manage change often see change as a major hurdle, grounds for rebellion, and a most unpleasant and fearsome task. To fortify themselves against the imagined upheaval and resistance, they turn their attention to the “change process,” which often includes actions such as: Developing a communications plan to control what everyone hears and when they hear it Scripting talking points for managers so they all deliver the same scrubbed messages Creating opportunities for the leaders to be highly visible voicing the same messages Planning a big launch to set the stage for change and generate enthusiasm With these acts, they create more resistance than they prevent. Furthermore, they invest a ton of energy into activities that add little value to identifying and implementing the actual changes needed.
Your priorities and desires for the new year likely require a combination of completing tasks and changing behaviors. The former is easy compared to the latter. Our behaviors and habits are so ingrained that they often defy our best and strongest intentions. Our environment and routines are largely to blame. When I was a child, my lunch bag typically contained a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a cookie. I was into my thirties before I realized that fruit at lunch made me crave cookies. I broke the cookies-at-lunch habit simply by changing the pattern, eating the fruit first, and finishing with the sandwich, salad, or yogurt.
Change Management, Process Improvement, New Directions – call it what you wish, but avoid these common mistakes: 1. Fanfare “Here we go again.” “Another program to weather.” “This too shall pass!” Sound familiar? All too often organizations announce big changes and new programs with big events and fanfare, but then very little actually happens. The initial energy and enthusiasm fades, specific changes are never identified let alone implemented, results aren’t realized, managers don’t adjust, or maybe something even better comes along leading to a new “launch” with new fanfare.The easy part is the announcement. And the fanfare is fun and contagious. But if your staff isn’t capable of the details, the follow-through, the implementation, then your program will die and the cynics will reign supreme, ever bolder in their determination to out-last any new program. Furthermore, while ostensibly trying to generate energy, the fanfare simply signals big change and thus, raises anxiety. An impoverished understanding of the program purpose, path or impact will leave most people uneasy.
We’ve all heard it. Employees Hate Change. Do you believe it? I don’t. I think employees are getting a bum rap. I think they are being used as an excuse for poor change, poor results, poor communication, poor planning. First of all, have you asked them? No, I don’t mean have you asked them if they hate change, I mean, have you asked them what they would like to change? Have you asked them specifically what is driving them crazy about their jobs that they would love to change? Have you asked them what your company needs to improve? Where it is wasting time, talent and money? Where it is disappointing your customers? Try it. You might be shocked at how eagerly they would encourage change.
“The great person is ahead of their time, the smart make something out of it, and the blockhead, sets themselves against it.” -Jean Baudrillard Change Management REDEFINED: Suddenly doing the things you should have been doing all along but were able to skip because times were changing slowly and your competitors were behind you! Below is a five part list of good management practices. Below is also a five part list of Change Management practices. Same list! Check it out!