Quick question: As a leader, how many change efforts are you currently part of? Chances are, it’s at least one. Maybe your organization is switching to a new technology. Or scaling up, down or restructuring. Adjusting to a hybrid workplace. Rolling out a new DEIA initiative. Even the loss or addition of a team member can be a considerable change since it requires realigning roles and relationships.
What are the chances that any one of these efforts will be completely successful? Pretty slim, actually. While there are many contributing factors, one of the most fundamental is human resistance to change. As Walt McFarland states, "The single biggest reason for 75% of change efforts failing is failure to anticipate and develop strategies to overcome human resistance to change.”
Organizational leaders play a key role in change efforts. Given that responsibility, it's easy to serve as "change cheerleader" and perceive any resistance as unwelcome. I'd like to offer a different perspective.
The human brain strives to maximize certainty and predictability as a central driver of behavior. In the presence of ambiguity, people fill in knowledge gaps with fear. Even the smallest change can be experienced as a threat. Being in a threat state activates the fight or flight response.
Here’s an example: Have you ever felt a jolt of surprise when you took a step and encountered an unexpected surface? It's not physical pain, it's social pain: the pain of encountering the unexpected. Interestingly, though, the brain processes these kinds of social pain in the same way it processes physical pain. We may even recall social pain more vividly than physical pain.
Take a minute to think about how your organization handled the March 2020 Pandemic Shutdown. That’s one of the most dramatic case studies of our lifetime. What did you and other leaders do to minimize or offset threat? What did you fail to do and what were the results?
I worked with many organizational leaders during that time and learned some powerful principles that helped to reduce the pain of that overwhelming period of change and uncertainty. Here are a few that apply to any kind of change effort:
Tell the truth...
Affirming shared reality can go a long way toward keeping people on board. Instead of saying "Just get over it" or It's not personal" or even “There’s nothing any of us can do,” you can say, "I know how hard this is." Don't minimize, don't sugarcoat. Change is hard at the most fundamental level.
Empathize...
It's easy to turn change efforts into us/them situations. The reality is leaders find change just as hard as anyone else. The difference is, you might have a little more status, more information, more input. These go a long way toward mitigating the impact. Put yourself in others' shoes and think, "If I was on the receiving end of this change, what would I want?" Chances are, you'd want up-to-date information and a sense of control.
Give people a sense of control...
Research shows that having a sense of control reduces stress, even if it's illusory. I'm not arguing for giving people a false sense of control, but even a little bit of control goes a long way: What options and choices can you genuinely offer? What decisions can you seek input from people on?
Keep people informed...
Remember, in ambiguous situations, fear sets in. Communicating what you know as often and as thoroughly as possible is an integral part of every change effort, not an afterthought. Even if you don't know, tell people. Even if you can't tell people everything, be honest.
And finally, recognize that people have limits to their capacity to behave well in circumstances of protracted stress. Not only that, but the long-term effects of chronic stress are severe. As organizational leaders, think carefully about initiating multiple change efforts too close together in time. If it's absolutely necessary, factor in the significant diminishment of both productivity and well-being.
What has been your lessons about change during COVID that can apply more broadly? Please share in the Comments below.
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