Paying attention

Often I am faced with situations that clients themselves didn’t create, but that were created for them.   But they are responsible for managing themselves and others through them.  Example.  The other day I was talking with an individual about a situation in their company where some people knew alot more about the upcoming changes than others.  When I asked her what the reason for that was she said she didn’t know.  And then she added, “I’m sure they have their reasons.”

Really? 

In my mind this is a perfect example of a higher level person not paying attention.  I bet they don’t have any reason for not telling everyone the same information.  I bet they simply weren’t paying attention: to the havoc it would wreak on those not “in the know”, on the affect it might have on morale, on the division’s between the haves (of information) and the have nots (of information) and how that might affect their productivity.

This is often the case.  The change isn’t a big deal to the person at the top so they minimize the potential impact on the levels below.  They just don’t pay attention to what could happen becaus they can’t imagine anyone caring that much (because they don’t). 

It would take some critical thinking and some courage to go back to that person and raise these issues.  I would submit that it would be worth it.  And don’t ever assume that someone “has their reasons”.  Nine times out of ten they don’t.  Not out of malice or negative intention, but because they simply aren’t paying attention.

Why Doesn’t Change Get Easier?

This is a question I am often asked by my clients.  The answer is easy to give but implementing the answer may be more difficult.  There are things you can do to help make change easier to deal with inside your corporations.  The first is to acknowledge that change is unsettling.  Once you do that you will know instinctively that sometimes something unsettling bothers you and sometimes it doesn’t.  You know what I’m talking about – those times when your life is sailing along wonderfully, everything is great in all areas of your life and then something happens that is unsettling.  But because everything else is going well it is a blip on your radar screen and then gone.  Other times your life isn’t going so well.  You or a loved one might be sick, your son or daughter may be having a problem with math or english, your job isn’t as fulfilling as it used to be, your raise isn’t keeping pace with inflation…you get the picture.  Then something happens that is unsettling and it clearly throws you off course.  It is harder for you to get back on track and sometimes you doubt if you even can.

When planning a change realizing that different people will react differently is a huge step.  The next big step is to plan for it.  Having a change plan that takes into account both ends of the spectrum and then making sure your managers have the skills to implement the plan is critical.  Having an executable plan is one thing, building resiliency in your work force is another.

Change depends on people and as I’ve said, people are in different places at different times.  As a businessperson you can’t do anything about whether your employee’s marriages, health and children are doing well.  But you can do something about building their resiliency so they can weather all that life throws at them.

These are some simple approaches that build resiliency in individuals.  1.  Make sure your employees feel valued each and every day.  Every day they feel valued builds on the previous day and they develop a confidence level that spirals upward.  This not only builds resiliency but results.  2.  Check in with your employees regularly to make sure that the job required still matches the skills they have, and if not help them come into alignment again.  Feeling like they don’t have the right skills, or feeling like the skills they have are antiquated saps their resiliency.  3. Understand what motivates your employees and make sure those motivations exist for them as rewards.  As your staff realizes that you are now focusing on their motivations vs. being lumped into a group, they will work to remain motivated in their jobs.  Happier workers are productive workers and productive workers are resilient workers.

I know it doesn’t sound like change management but rather good people management…and you are right, that’s what it is.  If a successful change begins and ends with people, making sure those people are managed well seems to be the key to a successful change.  As your management skills increase, so will their change skills – then implementing change will get easier.

 

The Winds of Change

Spring is in the air.  At least that’s what I keep trying to tell myself.  Change is also in the air – but that is pretty constant.  What is nice about changes in the spring though is that they are usually put forward as possibilities, whereas changes in the winter have a different psychological affect.  Have you ever noticed that? 

I could talk about change all the time.  It is truly a passion of mine.  What keeps it a passion I think are the possibilities of a change handled well.  The rewards are great for organizations and the individuals who populate them.  I am not trying to be a Pollyanna when I say this, but all change can be positive.  It is all in the way a change is handled.  And we all know this.  Yet there are still so many organizations (and people) who theoretically know how to approach change but still fail to do the critical few things needed for success.  In some ways it is like dieting.  We all know how to eat well, we just don’t always do it.  And for the same reasons – we think it is too much trouble.  

My message to those organizations is clear: Make the best choice you can in the moment.  Just the act of considering different options and then making a choice has to lead to something different.  Because we all know the definition of instanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  So make the best choice you can in the moment.  It doesn’t have to be the perfect choice, it doesn’t have to the “right” choice – it just has to be a choice.   Then make another and another and before you know it you will have strung together enough choices to have approached your change in a different way.

In our hearts we know there is no silver bullet, even though we always look for it.  Making the best choice is as close as we may come to finding the “one right way”.  Try it, I promise it will be different.

 

Welcome to ChangeSmart!

Welcome to the ChangeSmart blog!  This is being created in anticipation of my new book coming out in November, 2007 with the same name.  I’ll be back as the publication date gets closer to update this blog.