Friday, November 7, 2008

Inside Education & Training

Five-step process to making change work

What does moving the coffee pot have in common with altering the way an organization does business? As anyone who has ever attempted even apparently minor changes to office routines has discovered, the prospect of change can provoke surprisingly strong negative reactions in many people. While the debate over the location of the coffee pot may resolve fairly quickly, other aspects of organizational change are not so easily handled.

So why do people react so strongly to the prospect of change? Quite simply, people become attached to their jobs; not so much in a financial sense, but in an emotional sense. Most people define themselves at least in part by what they do. Now, this concept is probably not a big surprise. However, when there’s a change at work, that change may touch on how people view themselves or their job. While it is unlikely that many people define themselves by the location of the coffee machine, the problem is that it’s hard to determine exactly what it is that someone finds important. Even apparently minor or benign changes can trigger fear and anxiety, as people worry about these and other questions:

• What will this do to the organization?

• How will my place in the organization change?

• Will this affect my job?

• Will I still enjoy working here?

These questions may manifest as debate about whether or not the values of the business are being honored, questions about the validity of the changes, etc. Other times, the questions may manifest in a passive refusal to change.

In one situation, the head of an organization wanted to make some changes to the way the business handled training. Although the changes appeared to be relatively minor, they triggered a firestorm of argument, and many people walked out.

Furthermore, once a change is announced, attempting to explain it frequently fails to help the situation. People are too busy worrying about what the change will mean, how it will affect them and how they might be able to argue against it, to listen to anything further.

So, what can be done to make change happen?

An effective solution is to use a technique known as “reverse goal chaining,” which is based on inspirational techniques used by charismatic leaders such as Winston Churchill. It is accomplished through a series of steps:

1. Discuss the problem or need that is driving the change. Don’t discuss the actual change. Merely highlight the situation.

2. Describe what the solution would look like. Paint a clear picture of the brave new world and develop that image until people agree that would be a good place to be.

3. Take a step back from the destination. Describe this new, hypothetical state and get agreement on what it would take to move to the desired state.

4. Repeat step 3 until you have worked backward to your current state.

5. Assuming that you have successfully obtained conceptual agreement with each step of the process, you now have only to persuade people to take the first step.

While it can take a certain amount of practice to apply this technique, the results are well worth the effort.

 

Stephen Balzac is the president of 7 Steps Ahead LLC (www.7stepsahead.com), a consulting firm based in Stow, Mass. He can be reached at 978-298-5189 or steve@7stepsahead.com.