Much of this book was written during 2020, while the world—and the workplace—struggled to adjust to the realities of the coronavirus pandemic. The changes we navigated through during that time were devastating for some and profoundly distressing for just about everyone. We grieve with those who lost loved ones under the most tragic of circumstances. The more fortunate among us—and at times, it was hard to feel truly fortunate—wrestled with the loss of income, the loss of connection, and the loss of routine.
In the workplace, adjusting to the realities of a global pandemic meant implementing stringent new safety protocols, connecting to the office from home, navigating new policies and procedures, learning new technology, and dealing with furloughs and layoffs for some and overwork and exhaustion for others. Everything related to work seemed to be changing all at once. And it never seemed clear what the end state would look like, when we would reach it, or what our role would be when we got there. The phrase “new normal” took on an entirely new—and often insidious—connotation.
And yet, we mobilized quickly as we recognized the urgent need to do things differently to maintain our own health and protect the safety of others. We adopted new work practices, paused periodically to reflect on what was working and what wasn’t, and adjusted as we figured out what we could do differently that would work even better. We discovered new ways to keep everyone up-to-date about policies and procedures as they changed from day to day and week to week. And we developed new skills to meet each challenge as it presented itself. We learned how to convert a trash bag into protective gear and how to teach a class via Zoom.
During 2020, we came to see that—at least for a while—we would need to live in a persistent state of uncertainty. We recognized that whatever we were doing to survive during the pandemic, we would need to keep adjusting as conditions changed. The virus would subside and safety protocols would relax, or maybe they wouldn’t. Sales would return to pre-pandemic levels and hiring would resume, or maybe not. Restrictions would ease and employees would return to their offices, or maybe the virtual workplace would remain for the foreseeable future. As we navigated through our work, we came to appreciate how little we knew about what would come next.
What is certain—what we can be confident about—is that the way we work will continue to change. Hopefully the source of that change won’t be another global pandemic. But in whatever our “new normal” turns out to be, we will continue to incorporate technological advances into how we perform our jobs. There will be new procedures to adopt. We will work in organizations where the labor force expands and at other times contracts. New employees will join and bring with them different perspectives on how our organizations should operate. Customers will pressure our organizations to innovate, and competitors will force us to closely manage costs. Government regulations will continue to change and the workplace will adjust accordingly. Change, in whatever form we experience it at work, will be a constant.
And we also can be confident that all of us—our organizations, our co-workers, and us personally—will continue to wrestle with change as it occurs. We may support and embrace the changes happening around us, or we may resist them. We may be in the driver’s seat, leading the change, a committed navigator, helping to bring the change about, or a passenger, wondering what the destination will be like when we finally arrive. But it won’t always be easy to incorporate whatever needs to change into our work environment and our day-to-day work lives. We will wrestle with the hard side of change, as we struggle to find a path to keep us moving forward toward the outcomes we’re shooting for. And we’ll wrestle with the soft side of change, as we face days where we contend with ambiguity, disorientation, and feelings of incompetence.
Knowing all of this, how can we help our organizations—and our co-workers—retain their footing? How can we ensure that the changes occurring in our workplace are successful, and help our co-workers feel valued and involved? What can we do when we’re not in the driver’s seat? The driver may not have even asked for our assistance. How can we help guide change anyway?
We can start by developing our own change management competence. And that can mean applying the tools addressed in this book to our own work. Are you about to begin a project, perhaps as a member of a team or perhaps on your own? Even a small one will do. Create a simple project charter, where you document the rationale for your project and the results you’re trying to achieve. Discuss the charter with a few people who will be affected by the project in some way—perhaps your manager and a few fellow team members. Confirm that you’re all in agreement about what your project in supposed to accomplish before you proceed.
Prepare a project plan, where you lay out the milestones you’re working toward. Then reconsider. Is there a way you can incorporate short-term wins into your project, so your organization will benefit from your work even sooner than originally planned? Think about who will benefit or otherwise be affected by your project.
Conduct a stakeholder analysis. Meet with stakeholders to ensure your work addresses their needs and concerns. And think about how you can involve stakeholders so they actively participate in what you are creating. Can you enlist a few stakeholders to serve as an informal focus group—a transition-monitoring team of sorts—to review and provide input? Can you enlist a few others to serve as your red team, critically evaluating and poking holes in your plans to help you make them even better? As you plot out the key tasks and decisions you need to make, create a RACI matrix and review it with a few stakeholders. Is there agreement regarding who is responsible for completing each task, who is accountable for key decisions, whom you need to consult with, and whom you need to keep informed?
As you demonstrate to yourself and to others the value these change management tools provide, volunteer to help colleagues with the change initiatives they’re supporting. Offer to create a communications plan for a project that’s about to begin in your organization. Think about what senior leaders need to convey about why your organization is embarking on the change at this time, what they’re hoping to accomplish, and how the project will affect employees. Consider how you can leverage peer-to-peer communication and frontline supervisors to reinforce these messages.
Volunteer to assess training needs and to create a training plan for a project. Recommend ways to help employees build knowledge, skills, and attitudes throughout the entire initiative, instead of just waiting until the end for a single training “event.”
If you’re aware of a project that’s struggling, see if there’s an opportunity for you to speak with the project leader about sources of resistance that may be affecting their plan. If appropriate, provide coaching to the project leader about steps they can take to mitigate resistance, or possibly turn it around to make the project even stronger.
If they’re open to it, volunteer to facilitate an action review to help project team members and stakeholders discuss what’s happening and why and plan steps to address the issues they’re facing.
In your own work, and in your conversations with co-workers about theirs, blend the hard with the soft. Apply sound project management discipline, and ensure that trust and robust dialogue are the norm. Keep your organization moving forward on the outcomes you’re all working so hard to achieve, and create an environment where it’s safe to share views about why the project shouldn’t proceed at all. Build excitement about the benefits change will bring to your organization and invest time and resources to help employees navigate through their feelings of threat and loss. Recognize that successful change requires structure and management. But it also can be quite messy and devoid of anything that looks like management at all. To guide an organization through change, you need to have a clear sense of where you are going and a willingness to walk down paths you hadn’t considered.
And finally, demonstrate your own willingness to change. Research new approaches to integrate into your own work. Volunteer to try out a technology your IT department is considering. Agree to implement a new practice your manager or colleagues are advocating for that you aren’t quite sure about. Show that you’re willing to experience ambiguity and to feel incompetent, at least temporarily, as you explore something new that may—or may not—provide you with any benefit. Be inquisitive, doubt, make mistakes, and stumble. Experience the draw of just wanting to finish the job, the desire to make steady progress toward the end goal and just be done. And then rest in the mess for a while and sit with the confusion and disorientation. How does it feel? What’s it like to feel hesitant and uncertain, but know that you need to move forward anyway?
This is the place where change happens. And this is the place where having empathy for others as they consider change occurs too. Feel the tension between the hard, disciplined side of change and the soft, emotional side, and recognize that you can live with both simultaneously. Breathe it in.
Now you’re ready to lead yourself and others as you step forward into the dance of change.
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”—Alan Watts