Leadership and Real Change 

One of the most frustrating things about change is that no-one can see the
benefits as quickly as you can, as leaders. Why is that? Why are people so
stupid, defensive and traditional. Why can't they be more like you? You've
done all the hard work. You've looked at the strategy, weighed up the pros
and cons. You've even carried out a cost-benefit analysis to prove that
it's worth it. Yet still they won't change.

Well there are some very good reasons. The first would be because you, as
instigators of change are in a pretty good position. It's your change. You
own it and have bought into it. It really means something for you.

Also, you really are ahead of the game. In terms of the Coping Cycle you've
gone past the denial, defence and discarding stages. Your self-esteem and
performance may have been on the floor a few weeks ago, but now - hey -
you're all for it. Of course you are but your team aren't there yet.

They'll be at various stages of the cycle. There'll be some with you and
there'll be others in the 'why?', 'you are joking?', 'change again?'
stages. These people need to be helped through this cycle and supported as
their self-esteem dips, their performance hits rock bottom.
You know what this is like.

Remember that new computer system we had installed. They said it was the
best, state of the art, superb, blah, blah. A week later you couldn't even
send an email - it had all changed. God how you hated it. How you wished
you could have your new system back. However, as time went by and you
learnt to use it properly it was 'so much better than the previous system',
and even 'I don't know why we didn't introduce this years ago?'. So, that's
another good reason.

There's also a really interesting model that explains this in a different
way. It's a very simple formula for change. It says that to overcome
resistance to change you need a Vision, an idea of the first steps and
enough dissatisfaction with the current situation to make it happen.
Dissatisfaction x Vision x First Steps > Resistance

The Vision is usually the easiest. Well, it's all relative. However, if you
haven't got something to aim for then why on earth are you carrying out
this change process. Unfortunately people who have the vision are not
always the best at communicating that vision to others. If this is
something you, as a leader, struggle with then perhaps getting others
involved at this stage would help.
These could be people at all levels who are committed to the change. Choose
the cynics in the Organisation as well as the starts. Cynics frequently
have great networks and once they are won over the task gets a lot easier.
Invest time and effort into these 'change champions' ( not my favourite
word either), and communicate, communicate, communicate. Use every medium
you can think of - people are different. They pay attention to different
things - you know that.

The first steps can prove tricky. If people are sold the vision properly
and the benefits explained it's a great start. People, already under threat
from this change process want to know what's going to happen and when.
There's nothing wrong with that. The problem however is that life isn't
that simple. If it's a large change programme that will take months, years
- then there's probably no-one in the Organisation that knows every step of
the process. Yet, people expect you to. They expect that you'll know what
will happen to their part of the office on April 24th 2007. It's not
logical. It's not reasonable but there it is. What is logical and
reasonable is that you'll know with some certainty what the first steps
will be. You have to let people know what you know, and also what you don't
know.

A useful analogy to help with this is to think of the change as a journey
across the sea. Your Organisation is the boat and the vision is somewhere
out there. The vision is fairly clear. OK it may change slightly but it
should have been defined clearly so you at least know where you're heading.
The journey is not entirely under your control. There are numerous factors
that will affect your route.
In nautical terms; wind, tide, expertise of crew, condition of boat, etc.
In business terms; finance, resource, expertise of crew, condition of
Organisation, etc.

The only reasonable expectation would be to chart out the first few weeks,
stages of the project. If you try to do anything more than this inevitably
it will fail and you would have failed to meet peoples' expectations. Then
you'll have the whole 'told you it wouldn't work' scenario to deal with.
Don't set yourself up to fail.

The difficult part (which doesn't seem to occur in other models) is the
element of dissatisfaction. For this process to kick off the
dissatisfaction needs be real and significant before any change happens.
It's generally not until this dissatisfaction reaches epic proportions that
you'll do anything. This applies to change in all areas of life, not only
the business world.

For instance I'm 47 years old. I used to play rugby and football but that
was a while ago now and .Well let's just say I like a drink, good food and
I could do with losing a few pounds. Really I should start going to the gym
and eating healthier (my first steps). I would quite like to see my
daughter grow up and have grandchildren and live a good few more years yet
(my vision). So why on earth aren't I doing the right things now?
It make total sense, logically for me to eat healthier, take more exercise
yet I haven't done it. I guess my dissatisfaction level isn't sufficiently
high yet. If I started having some heart murmurs, or had a friend of a
similar age in hospital that may well do the trick.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that you go out and make your staff
miserable with the current situation. That would certainly raise their
dissatisfaction level but they may well decide to leave instead of change.
No, what I'd suggest is that you talk to people and raise their level of
awareness. One consequence of being stuck in 'denial' is that you won't see
what's going on around you. Something obviously needs to change - hence
change initiative. People need to address that problem. Once they do and
accept there is a problem their resistance should be significantly lowered.
This takes time. People need to be communicated with and their fears
addressed. Change is scary. But it's a lot easier when you've people with
you to move the change. You can't do it alone.

written by By Byron Kalies