Successful change efforts have two necessary ingredients. Change efforts often go awry because one of those ingredients is missing and when its missing, leaders are in for a bumpier ride.
Planning change usually focuses on an end state and the work that it takes to get there. This makes sense. Maybe the work is restructuring a function, implementing a cross-functional process change, or launching new equipment. Doing this work takes vision, planning, and execution. However, all too often the work itself dominates leaders’ attention, and puts the second necessary ingredient, the human side of change, at risk.
You might be thinking you have the human side covered because you do a stakeholder impact analysis. This is a common practice and it’s a start. This analysis looks at who is impacted, how they are impacted and what the extent of the impact might be. Change plans are then adjusted. While this exercise is worthwhile, it doesn’t address what people need to process the change itself. It doesn’t address how people feel.
Yes, we’re talking about feelings. We can’t get to the task if we’re not prepared to deal with the feelings.
Even when change brings great opportunity, there is usually loss that teams experience too. There is a period of disorientation that occurs between the old and the new, while everyone is adapting. A lot goes on under the surface. People have different needs and these needs are often unspoken.
Leaders who recognize these needs and respond to them will strengthen relationships and facilitate change effectively. There are four needs which include needs for:
- Control and Agency
- Information and Understanding
- Connection
- Stability and Support
While we all have these four needs, one need is usually more pronounced during a change effort and this varies across a team. Assessment tools, such as Everything DiSC® Workplace, help leaders know which needs are most important to whom. In the absence of an assessment tool, leaders can observe behaviours. Behaviours reveal clues about unspoken needs.
Leaders can address these needs in one to one “change conversations”, adjusting each discussion to address specific needs. Here are examples of ways leaders can facilitate change discussions with a team member’s needs in mind.
1. No one likes changes imposed on them but imposing change on someone with strong needs for control and agency is likely to be met with strong resistance. Involve the person in the change as much as possible and collaborate with them to find ways they can take action.
2. While the “why” of change is typically included in change communications, someone with the need for information and understanding might need more. Find out what questions or concerns they have. Provide additional background information, analysis, and context. Focus on clear expectations and plans to reach change objectives.
3. Someone needing connection will value a trusted space to express their hopes and fears. Give them that trusted space with non-judgemental listening. They’ll also be focusing on relationships that will be impacted by change. Will they have to work with new people? Will some work relationships be lost or change? Again, listen empathetically, acknowledge the stress, and provide reassurance.
4. While we all have a need for stability and support, during change some need this more than others. The very nature of change is unpredictable however, where can you find some stability? What is staying the same? What’s being done to reduce the risk this change won’t work out? At the very least, acknowledge the stress caused by uncertainty, listen with genuine care, and give time and space to work through the change.
Incorporating the human side of change into your transformation efforts requires leaders to have brave discussions. While these discussions take a little time in the near term, they’ll save time in the long run because productive change discussions help team members buy-in sooner.
After all, we can’t get to the task if we’re not prepared to deal with the feelings. So, let’s deal with them.
