Opening the path to better change management

1
Opening the path to better change management

• Karan Watson, Ph.D., P.E.

Funded in part by the National Science Foundation
through the Foundation Coalition
2
When your organization is changing?
Nature of the Change
Resistance to Change
Organizations Culture
Change Dynamics
Leadership for Change
Keep these factors in perspective
3
What is the organizational culture

• The culture of a group is a pattern of shared
  basic assumptions that the group learned as it
  solved problems that has worked well enough to
  be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught
  to new members as the correct way to perceive,
  think, and feel in relation to those problems.

Artifacts Visible structures and processes
Espoused Values Strategies, goals, philosophies
Basic Underlying Assumptions Unconscious beliefs,
perceptions, thoughts, feelings
4
Changing Culture

• You cannot create a new culture. You can
  immerse yourself in studying a culture ... Until
  you understand it. Then you can propose new
  values, introduce new ways of doing things, and
  articulate new governing ideas. Over time, these
  actions will set the stage for new behavior. If
  people who adopt the new behavior feel that it
  helps them ... The organizational culture may
  embody a different set of assumptions, and a
  different way of looking at things ...
• Edgar Schein, in Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change

5
When your organization is changing?
Nature of the Change
Resistance to Change
Organizations Culture
Change Dynamics
Leadership for Change
Keep these factors in perspective
6
Understand the Nature of Change
Organization Culture
Basic underlying assumptions
Espoused values, interests, or goals
Structure or composition of the organization
Rules or procedures for the organization
Individuals
The Employees Values or Interests Adjusted

The Employees Skills for future have been
strengthened
The Employees Relationship is Mended or
Strengthened
This Specific Change Has Achieved Acceptable
Resolution
7
Satirs Model to Individuals Successful Change
Process
Energy for the Job
New Status Quo
wwwwwwwww
Status Quo
Sense of Betrayal
wwwwwwwwww
Situational Anxiety is greater than Learning
Anxiety
Learning Anxiety is greater than Situational
Anxiety
Crisis of Decision
Time
8
When your organization is changing?
Nature of the Change
Resistance to Change
Organizations Culture
Change Dynamics
Leadership for Change
Keep these factors in perspective
9
Why do people resist change?

• It has been said that the only people who want
  to change are babies who have wet
  diapers. Rev. Sharon Patterson, Ph.D.
• Resistance isn't an indication that something is
  wrong with what you are trying to change. It is
  an indication that something is
  happening. James Hunt

10
Origins of Resistance

• Resistance is inevitable, not bad
• Change generates anxiety
• Learning anxiety- not an expert, temporary
  incompetence, time energy, may not master
• Situational Anxiety- consequence if we dont
  change
• People generally work to conserve energy-or lower
  anxiety
• Why will people choose to change- the situation
• because it matters
• because my colleagues take it seriously
• because it works

11
Signs of resistance

• Confusion
• Immediate Criticism
• Denial
• Malicious Compliance
• Sabotage
• Easy Agreement
• Deflection (change the subject)
• Silence
• In-Your-Face Criticism
• Maurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, 2

12
What do people do when they perceive conflict
with others
Competing
Collaborating
Compromising
Be Ready
Avoiding
Accommodating
13
How Intense is the Resistance?

• Level 1 Resisting the Idea Itself- a cognitive
  difference of opinion.
• Misinformation, missing data, conflictive data,
  misunderstandings about tradeoffs
• Level 2 Resistance due to deeper emotional
  issues
• Feelings of being undervalued, taken advantage
  of, distrust, fear of isolation, lack of
  incentives, loss of respect, world issues
• Level 3 Deeply Embedded
• Historic animosity, basic differences in values,
  totally different goals
• Maurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance,
  Austin, Texas Bard Press, 1996, chapter 8

14
Responses to Resistance

• Dismissal Youre an idiot.
• Bulldozer You just dont understand and I will
  try again to convince you of the correctness of
  my approach.
• Lets talk What you say has merit. Let me
  understand your concerns and lets review how an
  alternate proposal might address your concerns.
• Anticipate Dont be placed in a position of
  selling a proposal instead position yourself as
  responding to a felt need

15
Guides Responding to resistance

• NO. 1 Maintain clear focus
• Keep both long and short view, persevere
• NO. 2 Embrace resistance
• NO. 3 Respect those who resist
• Respect vs. trust
• Listen with interest
• Tell the truth
• NO. 4 Relax
• Stay calm to stay engaged
• Know their intentions
• NO. 5 Join with the Resistance
• Begin together
• Change the game
• Find themes and possibilities
• Maurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance,
  Austin, Texas Bard Press, 1996, chapter 5

16
When your organization is changing?
Nature of the Change
Resistance to Change
Organizations Culture
Change Dynamics
Leadership for Change
Keep these factors in perspective
17
Staged Change Model
You should facilitate stage-to-stage changes, not
the overall change
Oblivious to needs, desires, or efforts
Passive Information Gathering
Awareness that things are happening
Passive information gatherers are willing to
invest less time and energy.
Interest in the things that are happening
Decisions about what is happening
Commitment to aid or resist the changes that are
happening
Active Information Gathering
Active information gatherers are willing to
invest more time and energy.
Action
18
Are You in the Change Ready Zone?
Kriegel Brandt Sacred Cows Make the Best
Burgers
19
What we are feeling when faced with a change?
STRESS
Performance
Optimal Stress
Area of Optimal Performance
High Stress Anxiousness Unhappiness
Low Stress Boredom
Time when continually under high stress
Stress
20
What is a mental model
Climb the Ladder of Inference

• Observable data ? Choice of action
• Finally, people select an action based on their
  beliefs.
• People use the conclusions to adopt personal
  beliefs to use in the future.
• People draw conclusions from the assumptions and
  selected data
• People make assumptions using the added meaning.
• People use their personal and cultural beliefs to
  construct meaning for the data.
• People select the data they will use and ignore
  the rest.
• Observable data

21
Accept that people behave differently
22
Complexity- Peoples timing
Late Majority 34
Early Majority 34
Early Adopters 13
Laggards 16
Innovators 3
Rogers, Everett Diffusion of Innovations, fourth
edition
23
Groups Approach to Change
Search for Solutions
Identity Crisis
Denial
Betrayal
TIME
24
When your organization is changing?
Nature of the Change
Resistance to Change
Organizations Culture
Change Dynamics
Leadership for Change
Keep these factors in perspective
25
Where do you go from here?

• Leadership!!!!
• Leadership takes place every day. It cannot be
  the responsibility of the few, a rare event, or a
  once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
• Heifetz, Ronald and Donald Laurie, The Work of
  Leadership,
• Leadership is too important to be left in the
  hands of the few people near the top of the
  organizational hierarchy.

26
Attributes of Effective Leaders

• Inner drive/energy necessary to initiate and
  sustain leadership of change over extended
  periods of time.
• Intellectual capacity necessary to listen to
  input from diverse sources and synthesize vision
  and strategy
• Integrity necessary to synthesize vision and
  strategy that benefits the organization first and
  the individual second
• Mental/emotion health necessary for
  self-confidence and interpersonal skills

Kotter, John P., A Force for Change How
Leadership Differs From Management,
27
Leadership for Change

• Change is hard work.
• Leadership begins with values
• Intellectual leads physical
• Real changes takes real change
• Leadership is a team sport
• Expect to be surprised

• Today competes with tomorrow
• Better is better
• Focus on the future
• Learning from doing
• Grow people
• Reflect

Sullivan and Harper, Hope is not a Method