www.VickieChampion.com This is a story how one of my coaching clients overcame her fear of change. She uses some of the tools I teach my clients to get stop being afraid of making a transition. http
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What is transition? How is it different from change or is it different? Why does it matter? In fact, change and transition are different. Change and transition are also related. Change is a word whose definition we tend to more easily understand: "to make something different." Transition is a bit more complex: "a movement, development, or evolution from one form or stage to another."
William Bridges captures the definition best in his book "Transitions Making Sense of Life's Changes," when he says,
"Change is your move to a new city or your shift to a new job. It is the birth of your new baby or the death of your father...In other words, change is situational. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological. It is not those events, but rather the inner re-orientation and self-redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes into your life...Unless transition happens, the change won't work, because it doesn't 'take.'"
Sometimes change comes first, initiating a transition. Take for example relocation. You just moved across the country or far enough North, South, East, West to feel like a big move. You are learning a new career or a different job, creating a new community, meeting new friends, trying to find a new doctor, dentist, drycleaner... You are starting over. While the move came first, the letting go of an old life (transition) followed in service of creating the new life, the new you.
Sometimes transition comes first, requiring a change. Take for example, again, relocation. Maybe the change, the relocation, was initiated by an internal want. Maybe the need for something different or more was so strong that it was the catalyst for your decision to relocate, to pursue a different career or new job or new place to live.
Bottom line, change is typically external and situational whereas transition is internal, involving a letting go of an old way of being and behaving so that a new, more relevant you can emerge.
Many of us feel tremendous change and transition right now because of the instability felt in the world at large and yet, transition has always been (and will always be) a part of our lives. We transition from the bottle to a cup, from a crib to a big bed, from home to school, from childhood to adolescence, to college, to career, to marriage, to parent, to health issues big and small, to changing careers, to changing friendships, to empty nest, to divorce, to death, to parents of our parents - the list goes on.
The way in which we know ourselves fades, is no longer wholly relevant and so we must create a new identity which incorporates this change or new situation. In every transition there is an ending (who we were) and a subsequent beginning (who we will be) and in between a very messy period. This isn't to say that every fiber of our being changes, it doesn't as likely our value system is static.
In the mess or gray area comes opportunity. We often shy away from the mess because it's unclear, uncertain, unstructured, well, just plain messy. And yet, if we reframe our understanding and thinking, the messiness can be an opportunity for creativity, for considering new possibilities and new ways of being. There really is opportunity in change, and that doesn't mean it's easy. Transition is difficult. How difficult? The level of difficulty is impacted by the significance of the change, our innate temperament, attitude, and resiliency, as well as our learned methods for stress management. Whether you realize that you are in the middle of a transition or whether something about your life simply feels "off," what do you do?
Get Clarity.
What do I know to be true? What am I feeling? What behaviors no longer fit or serve me? What do I need to let go of...about what I've believed or assumed, about how I've always been or seen myself? What do I want most out of life?
Recognize Choice.
What choices (possibilities) do I have surrounding this change or situation? How might my value system help me sort through the choices? What might I do to create a new, more relevant me?
Direct Change.
Commit to letting go of old behaviors, decide which new ways of being now serve you, define necessary resources, and create a plan to implement. Act, in support of the new you required of this transition.
The danger in neglecting the internal transition is becoming someone who moves from change to change. This is the person who moves from relationship to relationship or from job to job, using change to avoid transition. This is the person who leaves a job abruptly complaining about the terrible manager rather than stopping to notice a career pattern, rather than looking to see what it is about oneself that continues to find such bosses (or relationships), again and again.
Life brings us two constants, change and transition. Change will only intensify as we travel through the 21st century. How do you want to deal with the lifetime of change and transition ahead? What if you considered change from a perspective of optimism and opportunity? What if you entered into transition being more planful and intentional? Or, what if you decide to simply move from change to change without ever really taking a moment to reflect on the impact, or the necessary transition, preferring to react to the external world and ignore your internal world? Do you wash and wax your car and completely ignore the engine? You decide.
© 2009 Lisa B. Montgomery
Things Change, People TransitionHuman beings tend to resist anything they view as stressful, and let's face it, organizational changes are about as stressful as it can get!
For most of us, familiarity with our surroundings, our relationships and our working environment allows us to reside safely inside our comfort zone. And comfort equals security.
But when our comfort zone is detonated by changes in management or organizational systems, we implode, seeking the shelter of our innate desire to resist, at all costs.
Changes that occur outside of our control force us to adapt to new rules, new systems and new policies which can, at the outset, make us feel uncomfortable and insecure.
However, a responsible and responsive management team can intercede before staff resistance spreads like the plague and threatens the smooth transition of organizational changes.
Effective team leaders acknowledge and understand that it is a basic human instinct to react to change with resistance, even though staff may fully comprehend the reasons why changes in the organization are vital to its existence and growth.
6 Management Strategies to Avert Resistance
1. A clear outline - Discomfort and insecurity arises when staff are not made aware of the policies, principles, guidelines and structure of intended changes. Every employee needs to know how his/her position will be affected and what his/her role requires.
2. Commitment -Implementation of organizational changes will not occur smoothly if everyone - from the CEO to the office clerk - is not committed to the project and its successful outcome.
3. Advocacy - Each member of an organization who may be affected by the impending changes must be given the opportunity to express his/her opinion.
4. Responsibility - It is the role of the team leader to ensure that each employee who is responsible for a component of the change strategy is held accountable for his/her actions in implementing the changes required.
5. Acknowledgement - Evaluation and acknowledgement of the success of the change strategy at regular intervals ensures its smooth implementation.
6. Flexibility - Management needs to adopt a flexible approach to each stage of development of a change strategy so that unforeseen contingencies can be implemented, if and where necessary.
It only takes one irresolute employee to destabilize an entire workforce, so periods of internal change within an organization require management to stay vigilant for any signs of rumblings or disapproval.
Long-standing employees can feel betrayed and rejected when changes are announced by management. They often experience a sense of loss, confusion, frustration and job insecurity. The plan for job advancement they have often calculated appears to be shot to pieces.
So they react with denial and resistance to the imminent changes.
Management's ability to recognize these patterns of behavior and work to overcome any resistance establishes how well they will accomplish organizational changes. Their willingness to invest in the support and training necessary is an integral factor in achieving a positive outcome.
Employees aren't the only ones who have to adapt to changes within the organization.
Top level managers generally bear the brunt of discontented staff from the ground up. Senior managers who have been instrumental in bringing about the changes within the organization often underestimate the impact those changes will have on their employees.
Unrealistic expectations of how their staff will react (or over-react!) often causes top level managers to retreat and isolate themselves from the problem when the impact of their proposed changes filter back to them.
However, they tend to lay the blame at the feet of middle management if employees resist or complain about the changes.
Middle management tend to carry the most stress during times of organizational change. They feel "trapped", unless they have exceptional leadership skills; besieged by resistant employees who look to them for guidance yet often denied direction and focus by top level management.
Those in middle management often find themselves acting as the arbiter during times of organizational upheaval.
However, organizational changes within a business often prove to be a suitable testing ground for leadership qualities; from the employees all the way through to top level management.
Those who possess the qualities that define a good leader often emerge during the stressful environment that usually accompanies change. This creates an ideal opportunity for potential leaders to display those qualities and be recognized accordingly.
6 Management Strategies For Organizational Change SuccessWhen people ask me to describe our change management model at LRI, I tell them it boils down to three principles.
Principle number one: focus on the first five percent. What you do to gather champions, set expectations, how extensively you engage stakeholders, and how well you paint a picture for people of the decision-making process will go a long way toward guaranteeing a successful outcome. Let me emphasize the importance of engaging many people early on -- those who will be affected by the decision and those whose expertise can help. Even when ideological stances are strong, early engagement is always the better approach (as opposed to shutting people out of the process).
Principle number two: Focus on defining the root problem. Solutions don't matter unless you define the problem correctly. We emphasize a systems approach. Too often people say things like: "We need better products," or "we need more sales, or "staff isn't working hard enough," without looking at the reasons why. Very often, the answer lies in looking in the mirror - at what you're doing or not doing. One systems approach is to look at the organization's core values -- the things essential for its success. You can make tough decisions look easy if you ground them in well-understood core values.
Principle number three: Find a good guide. An experienced guide can set the tone, keep an open mind, identify key issues, articulate points of agreement, and keep things moving. A guide should be able to offer models and examples from other organizations. The courage to handle uncertainty and adversity is also important, along with a healthy sense of humor. Good, experienced guides are hard to find. But they are absolutely essential to our change management model.
The following are the 7 Stages of any Change Management Model
1. Assess.
2. Envision.
3. Engage.
4. Plan.
5. Align.
6. Perform.
7. Reassess.