CHAPTER 6

Individual responses to change

Having established that these next few chapters will look in more detail at the challenges facing the Change Superhero, this first chapter will cover the individual and will try to shed light on the role that emotion and personality play in the process, sharing some techniques that may prove useful. As the quotation suggests, resistance is a common response to change and persistence needs to be part of the Change Superhero toolkit.

One of the things that makes managing organizational change so challenging is the fact that it tends to bring out a range of emotional responses in people. If you think about it, at work we tend to try to present our best self, to be adult-like and non-emotional. This is far harder during change as emotional responses can rise to the surface and an unsuspecting Change Agent may not know how to handle them. There are a range of personality traits and factors that can influence this, some of which we will deal with in this chapter and others later in the book. The key is that the more we understand how personalities and predictable emotional responses affect individual behaviour during change, the easier it is for us to react appropriately. This in turn means that those affected by the change are more likely to buy in to the change or come to terms with it faster.

Personalities, styles and strategies

Research (Oreg, Vakola & Armenakis, 2011) shows that certain individual characteristics are likely to influence responses to change such as personality traits, individual motivational styles and coping strategies. One personality trait, known as the ‘locus of control’, is the extent to which individuals feel they can control or are responsible for the events that take place in their lives. If we have an internal locus of control then we have a greater sense that we can affect change ourselves, whereas people with an external locus of control tend to feel things are done to them. People with an internal locus of control have been shown to have more positive reactions to organizational change. Similarly, other studies showed that people with higher levels of self-efficacy (or self-belief) were related to greater readiness to change, engagement and commitment to change.

As Change Agents we can’t control the natural locus of control or levels of self-esteem of the people we are working with, but we can, to a certain extent, predict which people may have difficulties and help them to focus on the aspects of the change that they control. Involvement in the planning and roll-out of change is a great way to help people feel more in control and therefore more positive about the change. Remember, it is not always the case that people dislike change; it is more the case that they dislike change being ‘done to them’.

Organizational changes can cause stress, depression, uncertainty and insecurity (Zhou et al., 2006). When it comes to stress, various factors cause it at different stages of change. Before the change, main stress factors were found to be: workload, limited resources, difficult internal or external relationships and too much or too little responsibility. During change they shifted to: internal relationships, uncertainty, unclear roles, lack of consultation/participation and the stress of others. After the change they were: workload, inadequate resources, internal relationships, continuous uncertainty and change with no perceived gain. In Part III of the book we will consider how we can communicate change and the importance of completing the cycle of change so that people appreciate actual benefits, which can help alleviate some of these stressors of change.

The transition curve

Regardless of our personality or organizational stressors, there is one helpful model that has been consistently used to explain the emotions that we all go through during change. It is known as the ‘transition curve’ and originated from the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969), who studied how people coped with death and bereavement. Clearly, this is a book about organizational change; however, any change can be considered a form of loss, even a positive one. For example, if you apply for a new job and gain a promotion, there is still a sense of loss as you leave your existing role and team and move into a new one.

Kübler-Ross identified seven or eight stages and emotions that people go through during bereavement, ranging from shock and depression to integration. I am going to use an adapted version of the transition curve in this chapter that is helpful in business. There are just four stages to this journey, as can be seen in the figure below.

On the left we can see the present time, and on the far right is the future. The four stages have been labelled as denial, resistance, exploration and commitment. Depending on the perceived desirability of the change, it is possible for us to go through each stage either almost instantaneously, or at a snail’s pace. It is also possible for us to move backwards and forwards along the curve. Clearly, each stage of the transition curve brings with it a set of emotions and behaviours; a point to note is that they tend to be less visible during denial and acceptance and more overt during the resistance and exploration phases.

Figure 6.1 The transition curve

Of course, the goal for us as Change Agents is to help people move through the curve and reach commitment in the shortest time possible, and to stay there. When we recognize and understand the stage someone is at, we can more effectively support them through the transition curve.

Denial

The denial stage is one we often hear people referring to in relation to the personal situations of others – ‘She’s in denial about her husband leaving her’ – or, more positively, the lottery winner stating that their win won’t change them. Human beings are creatures of habit and we are drawn towards equilibrium; therefore, denial is a great way of not ‘rocking the boat’, and hoping that the proposed change will just go away.

Being in denial can be quite an effective strategy for those who don’t like change. The reality is that many organizational changes are poorly managed and fail to become embedded, for reasons that we will discuss later. However, poor change management can mean that the cynical employee whose strategy is to just ‘keep their head down’ and ‘wait for it all to go away’ can often succeed. This is because denial is largely invisible, as opposed to the next stage of resistance. This can mean that the Change Agent mistakes silent denial for silent commitment and wrongly assumes that the individual is on board because they are not communicating otherwise.

Of course, the Change Superhero doesn’t allow this to happen; they spot the possible denial and encourage the individual to express their feelings by asking specific and open questions about their views. As soon as people start talking, they begin to move on to the next stage of resistance, which may sound negative but is in fact a sign of progress.

Resistance

Once people move into resistance, they start to tell us their fears and concerns, which means we can try to address them. This can be a challenging time because it may well be quite fast-paced, frenzied and feel like conflict with people expressing anger and frustration about the situation. They will often come up with challenging questions that we may feel we should respond to, although we may not have all the answers. One of the most important aspects of this phase is for us to remember that the emotion is about the situation. We need to avoid taking it personally and becoming defensive.

People express resistance with statements like ‘This will never work’ or ‘I’ve seen it all before’. These terms give us an indication of what their fears are. The key here is for us to use our empathic listening skills to truly understand their concerns and encourage the individual to continue to speak. If we appear to dismiss these concerns, the person is likely to become more vocally resistant or retreat into denial, neither of which help us to achieve our change.

The blue-bag-and-potato exercise

We need to learn to listen patiently in order to fully elicit the concerns of others. I have a long-standing colleague who uses a fantastic exercise to facilitate communication in this situation. It has the strangest name; she calls it ‘the blue-bag-and-potato exercise’. I have no idea why the bag is blue, but it is purely a concept used to capture all the concerns from an individual or a group. We don’t try to answer them, just gather them all, without judgement, into the imaginary blue bag. I imagine you may be wondering what the potato is for. Well, it goes in your mouth (metaphorically, of course!) to reduce the temptation to defend the change or to try to answer the concern directly. This is because we stop people from expressing their concerns as soon as we try to answer or respond, so keeping the potato in our mouth reminds us to keep quiet.

I love this as a metaphor because, although slightly crazy, it brings home the importance of letting people speak without interruption. Of course, we don’t want to sit in total silence, because that is also likely to prevent people from sharing. We just need to occasionally remove the pretend potato from our mouths, in order to ask clarifying questions or to encourage further conversation. Examples might be ‘Is there anything else concerning you about this change?’ or ‘Can you expand a little on your concerns around the changes to your working hours please?’ Trying to address questions or concerns before people feel they have been fully understood is not time-efficient, even though we may think that it should be. Instead the other person is likely to disagree, argue or give more reasons why the change won’t work.

What tends to happen if we continue to listen appropriately, with the odd supportive question, is that the person will start to move through the curve by themselves. We will hear them begin to ask questions that are more future-orientated even if they still appear a little hostile. They might say something like: ‘Who’s going to handle all the extra work caused by this change?’ or ‘How will I find the time to do this?’ Although these are still slightly resistant questions, they are more positive and are a sign that the individual is starting to progress towards the next stage of exploration.

Exploration

Exploration is an equally vocal stage, where people interact and question the future vision looking for possibilities. We might hear more questions around possibilities, like ‘Will I get a pay rise?’ or ‘What new roles will be available?’, which allow us to interact more naturally (and take the potato out of our mouth). The main difference between resistance and exploration is the fact that the individual is clearly starting to picture what the future will look like after the change has taken place, which means they are spending more time on the right-hand side of the curve. It is perfectly normal for them to move backwards and forwards between resistance and exploration and this is when we can start to answer some of the questions or concerns raised. Remember, we don’t have to know all the answers at the time; what we need to do is understand the concerns fully. It is then perfectly OK to say that you are going to take the issues away in order to get full answers. We are then able to group concerns together, use them to inform future communication and provide more comprehensive answers.

The interesting thing about this exercise is that we might do this in a one-to-one or a one-to-many situation; it is the act of allowing people to express their views and concerns in a safe non-judgemental way that helps them to process the change. Even without the answers we are helping them to come to terms with the change – just like the grieving process.

Some people will naturally move from exploration to commitment on their own as they visualize and process the future vision, particularly if they believe it to be positive. However, there will be some who remain stuck at an earlier stage, even when we have answered their concerns to the best of our ability. We then need to stand firm, explain the expectations and be clear that the change is here to stay. We should share success stories of how it has worked for other people (think of Chapter 3 on influencing through persuasion) but ultimately they need to realize that the change is not optional.

You can see in Figure 6.2 the different ways in which we can help people through each stage of the transition curve.

Figure 6.2 How to manage each stage

Commitment

The interesting thing about people who have reached the commitment stage is that it is almost silent; the frantic questions cease and the energy becomes quieter and more channelled. If we have witnessed someone going through all four stages, then it is obvious when they have reached commitment.

However, as mentioned before, we mustn’t mistake the quietness of denial for the quietness of commitment. It is easy to check by asking a few questions about how they feel about the change. If we get a quick and positive answer, then they have reached commitment. On the other hand, if they take a deep breath and give a textbook answer or their body language appears incongruent then we may need to ask a few follow-up questions to be truly sure that they are on board.

We all go through these predictable stages during change, some of us quickly and some of us more slowly. Ultimately, if we are to be successful in delivering change then we must take as many people with us, as quickly as possible. People who have made it through the Change Curve and reached commitment are in a great position to help others through the same journey. They may become our First Followers, early adopters or champions – all key roles during organizational change.

One of the worst things that can happen is if people ‘quit and stay’, as in, they don’t buy in to the change but they don’t choose to vote with their feet and leave. In organizations where successive changes have taken place but haven’t been driven through to completion there can be a high proportion of people who fit into this category, creating a culture of resistance and stagnation. This makes future changes extremely difficult. Starting by understanding each individual, one at a time, the Change Superhero can unblock stagnant cultures, increasing the chances of a successful change outcome.

Quick recap on individual responses to change • Individuals go through a predictable set of emotions akin to grief during change. • We experience the same emotions, regardless of whether it is positive or negative change. • The pace at which we go through the Change Curve will vary from person to person. • It is possible to go backwards as well as forwards through the Change Curve. • Resistance to change is a healthy part of the journey and shouldn’t be mistaken for negativity.

Online toolkit The following free change resources can be downloaded via: www.changesuperhero.com • ‘Transition Curve’ PowerPoint presentation