Emotional Phases of Processing Change

Currently my work realm is undergoing a significant amount of changes.  I have had to put my words into practice, testing them in a very significant way.  And I wanted to remind managers out there faced with similar challenges, some key responses that will likely be exhibited by your group, and how I have found to deal with those in what I always aspire to be an effective manner and seems to be working well….so far.

Just as they say, the grieving process is composed of stages, also is the acceptance/processing of major change (professionally or personally).  Professionally, I have found consistently the following feelings seem to be consistent when a major operational change is announced.

The first stage that I have observed is most often SHOCK.  During this stage, despite the advantages or disadvantages of the change to the individual or the group, this is the part where you hear:

“What? 

Why is this happening?

What can we do to stop it? 

I do not think I’m going to like this…. And of course,

Why didn’t anyone ask what we think and

Who’s decision was this?” 

Depending on the change itself and the dynamic of the group and the timeline to implementation, this may last minutes or it may be days, weeks, or more.  And, most often, they are still trying to process the communication given to them and are not fully ready to hear out all the details or be able to ask productive questions regarding the change itself.

Stage 2:  Anxiety and fear.  Sadly to say, this most often must come before you can get to acceptance or excitement.  This step usually is also where speculation comes in and imaginations come to life.  Conspiracy theories regarding reasons for the change and ideas about what is looming next may take life.

It is very important at this step to give as much information as you know during stage 2.  Thwart any misconceptions before they can form if possible.  Do this: put yourself in a place where you have just heard said news.  Now subtract all the reasoning and rationale that you know (or suspect) went into the decision-making process for the change.  Then think of the worst case scenario that you can think of.  (ex. They are making this change because they want to downsize, or they want to outsource, or we are getting bought out….etc) The game-changer kind of stuff. 

Then with the knowledge that you have, how do you go about talking yourself off the ledge.  And if you find there are unanswered questions that could be helpful, try to get those answered if possible.  And if these are things that are undecided or confidential, then point out the reasons why those particular details will be shared as soon as you get them.  You cannot get a good result if you can’t be trusted! Share what you can share.

Now you are prepared to console and instill some confidence and comfort that the team needs.  EMPATHIZE.  By putting yourself in their shoes as you did above, hopefully you were able to induce at least a tinge of anxiety just having to worry and try to think and reason through it.  Let them know you understand their fears and perhaps share a couple of anxieties or hesitations of your own about the unknown, but remember that you set the tone.  So if you are fearful and unsure, they will be too!  Be present as much as your work allows and be human.  Remind your team that you are just that- a TEAM.  Your successes are often due in part to their hard work and input and that your hard work and input are  most often in an effort to help them be successful and grow and their environment a positive one in addition to your allegiance to the business/bottom line/”higher-ups”. 

Stage 3:  Curious.  Hopefully you have been able to calm the storm.  At this point, your staff will likely be open to engaging.  You should be getting questions about the finer details about the change.  This is good!!!  This means people are trying to digest.  I will caution this is not the same as acceptance, and they will still be weighing how they feel about the change and whether or not they want to jump ship if it is an extremely impactful change that will completely change the landscape of their current role or if it will possibly negatively affect their current work-life balance.

This is still a positive place to be!  There should be open dialogue.  They will want to know more details from you, how you feel about things, what are your ideas for what the new world will look like.  This is an opportunity to allow them to give input, share ideas, voice what they think will be positive as a result of the change.  Their neurons will be firing and you can encourage that activity to be more positive than negative in this stage.  The best thing is that you can get valuable input from them about what they would like to see in their environment that hasn’t been there before, what they really enjoy.  This is a good time to recognize/acknowledge what about the change people are NOT happy with, but then it yields opportunity to counteract it with a positive contributed by the group, not just from you.

It is now that if people are going to take interest in becoming involved as players and not victims that it will happen.  By now you should have thoroughly explained the “why’s” of the changes, and determined and voiced if it is negotiable, non-negotiable, fair, unfair, regardless, everyone should be on the same page as to what is happening and when next steps occur.

Stage 4:  Planning and Implementation.  Now that the overall “what it means” has been processed, it is essential that everyone know their part in the shift.  It can be more easily embraced if you have healthy communication and everyone understands what the changes mean to them personally and then to the group as a whole.  

This is where you must encourage ownership of the area and the piece each person contributes to be given.

Stage 5:  Acceptance or Rejection/Excitement or Disgust

Remember that people tend to accept change if a) they understand fully the why  and b) they can mold what the future looks like after the change in some way and c) can recognize the positive that will come from it.  So hopefully you won’t have any people on your team that fall into the rejection and disgust category.  If you are careful to be consistent and persistent throughout the process it is less likely, but as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, some people just are resistant and may not be happy.  Chances are if this is the case with any of yours, they will leave at some point anyways.  Even if you do the same job for 40 years, it is unlikely for everything to ALWAYS stay exactly the same.  Think about how we’ve gone from pen and paper to typewriters to computers to sending emails from our smartphones!  If they are truly grounded and averted to change, it will surely happen at some point.  But, remember if someone is fearful of change, even if they seem like they will never come around, think about the change involved going to a new place and a new role!!  They may just with time decide, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

On the other side of the coin, you WILL have members on your team excited, and hopefully all will be accepting.  And even if it takes time to adjust, remember that praise and encouragement, vocalizing you are grateful for their willingness to be flexible, accepting, and contributing to the team effort.  Then breathe easy and hopefully the next one won’t be such a WHOPPER J

Company Growth vs. Associate Growth

While not trying to stray from the path of progression, I felt inspired to write about a corporate "chicken or the egg" question I have been pondering.  When a business and it's leaders are attempting to implement changes, especially large changes, what is the most important initial focus: company growth/goals (as measured by various metrics: volume, savings, revenue, etc) or investing in the associate??? 

As discussed in earlier posts, happy associates, well-supported associates, dare I say more satisfied associates are more productive some studies report.  So should the majority of management efforts be placed in fostering the associate OR in driving towards corporate improvement by pushing the goals and setting the expectations upon our teams.

If you have been following along thus far, you will guess that I might say the first option as my choice.  Leading the lava is after all primarily preaching about kindling internal motivation in your staff. You would be right.....and wrong.

A successful leader will find a balance in both.  Fostering internal motivation and pushing your team in a positive direction go hand in hand.  It is essential you educate on the criteria for the goals.  

What are the metrics?  
Why are they important, ie what is extrapolated from the data that directly affects them?  
How will achieving goal in those "numbers" you care about so much help them in their role? Answering their unspoken question of, "what will I get out of this should I do what you are asking?" may seem unnecessary and possibly even proposterous.  
You might think, they should just perform because it's their job.  We all have a job to do and that's why we show up, to work and get paid.

Remember though, there are more than one types= of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic.

A brief summary of intrinsic motivation from http://www.leadership-central.com gives a nice overview of motivation that comes from within:

Acceptance: We all need to feel that we, as well as our decisions, are accepted by our co-workers.

Curiosity: We all have the desire to be in the know.

Honor: We all need to respect the rules and to be ethical.

Independence: We all need to feel we are unique.

Order: We all need to be organized.

Power: We all have the desire to be able to have influence.

Social contact: We all need to have some social interactions.

Social Status: We all have the desire to feel important.

I would also add self-satisfaction through personal performance or exceeding personal expectations, ie pride or achievement.

Extrinsic motivation is motivation that is externally applied and can be either positive or negative.  Examples of this include will typically fall in one of two categories:
Penalties (or avoidance of such) or Rewards

Extrinsic motivation will definitely evoke altered behavior in many, but often times the effects are short-lived or sub par.  In some cases for example where bonuses for performance are excessive, there is typically a ceiling and even a high performer will only excel to the level that will reap the highest possible reward.  IF they reach their ceiling, they have no other driving factor to perform beyond that.  The incentive has been reached.

Speaking to intrinsic motivation is a much more lasting sell.  For example, someone who values standards and doing things "the right way" will be totally on board with a new rule or change that will help ensure company compliance if they understand that is why the change is essential.  No pushing or pulling needed for them to support your change.

IF you understand what will make a person want to support your initiative, both the associate and the company goals come first because they will align!  It is a WIN-WIN!  

Some of Your Lava is Turning to Rock! What now?

You've gone from this:

10-metre (33 ft) high fountain of pāhoehoe lava, Hawaii, United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava

To this:

Toes of a pāhoehoe advance across a road inKalapana on the east rift zone of Kīlauea Volcano in Hawaii, United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava#Lava_domes

And while the latter still looks pretty interesting, intriguing, it is hard as a rock.  It has reached another place away from where it started from.  It looks different than before, but now it is stuck right where it is. 

So what is the good news?  This doesn't happen all at one time.  You may lose some people.  They may reach a stalemate where they simply can't or won't accommodate anymore.  They have decided that they aren't excited about the direction you are taking, even though you have done everything right: nurtured, critiqued, praised, communicated the "why's", and so on.  These people are going to stop right where they are in terms of progress and they may show up everyday but they won't be passionate and they won't be invested.  If these people are still functional for the purpose, be proud of how far they have come, remind them of that, and they may have come far enough to count.  Others may decide at that point, that they don't share the end vision and they are ready to part ways.

Don't let this loss of momentum of some of your wave of progress hold you up.  Remember, people who believe in you and the changes because you believe in them, and you involve them in making important decisions about their workplace and about their lives will celebrate with you when you reach your goals, when your team reaches their goals.

I am thankful to a professor, I believe it was Dr. Boller in his creative leadership class at University of Memphis, for sharing this video with our class.  It is a YouTube video called "Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy" narrated by Derek Sivers. 
 www.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DfW8amMCVAJQ&ei=hQ_kVPzhMYvvgwT_uoH4DA&usg=AFQjCNE_Y35gtoHu_ZscHy9ZPMfIqDWlxA&sig2=EhrMeb4IdYVL-9w77IatFg&bvm=bv.85970519,d.eXY  Please watch, I promise it's short and entertaining!

While I loved watching this because the guy and then the crowd appear to be having so much fun, I brought away a couple of points I find very important. 

One is that nobody knew EXACTLY what the first dancer was doing, not exactly.  They saw he was confident and he was motivated and it appeared to be working for him.  So another joined him, then another, then another, then eventually everyone.  The group was harmonious!!  It became a dancing movement.  AND while not everyone was doing the EXACT same thing at the exact same time, they were able to have a symbiotic result. 

Everyone had the same goal. They were all motivated. They were all engaged. They all felt like they were contributing to the movement, and they liked where it was headed.  The first dancer did not stop the second and tell him that he wasn't doing the dance the right way because he wasn't doing just like him or just like he told him to.  He let him be free to dance how he felt good dancing!  IF we motivate our team, if we give them the training and tools and confidence they need, we can watch them flourish doing things their own way within the guidelines and synchrony toward the same goal.

This is where real progress continues to grow after the eruption.  This is how we keep our lava flow hot and flowing.  This is how we all reach our goals, through symbiosis and through creativity.

Directing the Lava: The Team has erupted.

Directing The Lava:

The Team has erupted.

You have built up your staff.  You have increased their confidence, their motivation, and gotten them moving.  They are LIQUID.  You have used your passion to heat up their passion.  Combine that with the need for change and the explosion you hoped for has occurred.

What next?

At the climax of the eruption, drops of lava are found at different elevations.  Some of the lava shoots high into the air, propelled by the heat and pressure and lava behind it.  These team members play a critical role.  They are also leaders of their peers in their right.  They are excited and enthusiastic!  The are taking their energy to  new levels and doing it fast.  

For these team members, you must harness some of their explosive energy and focus it. This is your opportunity to start getting things done.  Use their enthusiasm for brainstorming and for bringing people together.  They can help keep the team rallied.

Others are mid-air.  They are on board.  They are not dragging their feet.  They are not running ahead.  These people may be the ones that were semi-content before the changes.   These may be the associates that have very busy lives outside of work, and do not tend to get consumed in the day-to-day negativities of the workplace of the past.  They are there out of necessity, but typically come to work, do what they must, are pleasant, and watch the clock until it's time to go do "more important things".  These members of your staff are pretty easy going.  They don't mind complying with the change, especially if it's for the better.  It is still important to keep them motivated by getting them more invested and showing them there can also be satisfaction and self-fulfillment in their time spent at work.

The rest, of course, are those just gurgling over the surface.  Overflowing out of the volcano mostly because of the momentum of those behind them pushing them forward.  Remember, even if there is resistance, they are still moving.  They may be slower, and their motivation may not be aligned with yours (it may even be self-focused), but at least they are not holding your team back.  By default, this is a part of life, and some people just do NOT like change.  This does not mean they won't comply with change regardless of whether the motivation is internal or external.

This is your time to encourage them for the little things you are seeing.  Praise them.  Encourage them to help each other grow and acknowledge each other for the changes they are seeing in the behavior and efforts of their peers.  Congratulations you are on your way to success!  Your 'flywheel' has started to gain its momentum,

TEAM LAVA: SOLID, LIQUID, OR GAS?

#2 Lava: solid, liquid, or gas

• As a chemistry major in my younger years, I often find myself breaking complex situations down into basic concepts.  It helps me to avoid feeling overwhelmed, and it also helps me relate thinigs to others.  In this case, lava can take the shape of all three of the basic states of matter.  We can use the related yet very different properties of each state and apply those to the motivation level and behaviors of our team members.  Please see the diagram below, courtesy of http://www.explainthatstuff.com/states-of-matter.html (a great refresher can be found there as well if you are a little rusty on your sciences).

Woodford, Chris. (2009) States of matter. Retrieved from http://www.explainthatstuff.com/states-of-matter.html. [Accessed 25 Aug 2014]

SOLID:  This is where it all starts.  In the case of the volcano, the solid is Earth itself, one big rock.  In the case of your team, it is the people that make up the team, or more aptly, the organization itself (a composite rock!).  

• We will hope that you get to start with people slightly more productive and more motivated than rocks, but even if that's what you have, at least you have a starting point!  Remember another basic rule of science, you cannot create new matter but only change what's already in existence.  Many times this is true for our team, because we aren't given unlimited assets to hire in order to improve our team.  Typically more funding comes from already being productive.

• While this state may be "strong", it is only stable in its form when its environment is stable as well.  If the world around it is changing (increased temp, pressure, movement), then the solid may crack, break, transform shape or state.  So, you see why in an ever-changing world, this is not the ideal state for your team.  A solid is only stable if you are not going anywhere, if you don't want to grow, just maintain.

LIQUID:  This is what you want your team to be!

• As you can see, a liquid team is a little crazier.  It is moving!  Particles are not uniformly stacked together.  They are going and bumping into one another, changing their direction as a reaction to their interactions.  This is exactly what you want: movement!  What's more, you want this liquid moving in the direction you want it to go.  As you motivate your team to collaborate, "bounce" ideas off of each other, collectively get creative, you will see them start to gain an energy like never before.  They will talk to you more frankly (prepare yourself) and show a desire to be hands on with taking on the world around them and believing they can change it!

• How do you get from SOLID to LIQUID?  Well, in the case of lava, you have to melt more rock.  It is the pressure and heat (passion and motivation) from the center of the Earth (you, the leader) that melts these chunks of Earth and Rock into a massive mighty boiling underground river of magma.  This red flowing fiery liquid not only consumes everything in its path but it is unstoppable by anything that could possibly stand in its way!  Alone, a rock is just a rock, and a drop of liquid, even a drop of lava, can be reckoned with, but collectively, this is where you see the magic happen.  An explosion of this underground river of fire, now isn't that what you want your team to be?

GAS:  Here's where you come in...

• In the gaseous state, these same molecules from the liquid and solid state are really in an uncontainable form.  This has to be you to get your lava stirred up.  How do you get this way,  UNCONTAINABLE?  I know you are asking!  You get PASSIONATE about what you do and what is your purpose and what you CAN do and not just what YOU can do on your own, but what you can do WITH your army, with your river of lava!  Working in healthcare, I can easily get overly excited about showing patients compassion to get them to hear me and then empowering them with knowledge that will change how they care for themselves, but I believe that we can all find purpose and fulfillment in our everyday duties if we make our position an extension of who we are and not just what we do.  

• I also feel empowered when I think about how I can motivate others, my staff, my students, to view their abilities the way that I see them.  Building their confidence is definitely another way to get them hot about what they do.  Remember, coaching for improvement will be important in directing them where you want them to go, but first you need to get them moving.  So, heating them up by getting them pumped for their cause and rallying the troops must come first.  If you followed the directions in post #1, you will know your staff and will know how to get them going.

You've applied the pressure, cranked up the heat, melted the rock.  Now what? Get ready for the ERUPTION!  

• How long it takes to get there is different for every team.  There is work cultures to break through sometimes, mistrust of management, mistrust of each other, sometimes years of dysfunction, apathy, and bad habits.  I'm not saying everyone's journey to explosion will be easy, BUT I am very confident that if you are a leader and you do that, you lead, they will follow.  It starts with one and then another and then two more and then when your team can't contain anymore enthusiasm without something happening, BOOM!  You exceed your point of no return.  Once people see that they can make a difference, that voices are heard, that collectively they can bring about positive changes, you can't push that lava back into that mountain. 

• You have to be consistent.  You have to be persistent. You have to stand for what is important to you.  You have to share with them that you are human too, but that your intentions are honest, that you are in it together, and that they will want to go where you want to them.  That will get you the eruption your organization needs.

Photo courtesy of http://www.worldvolcanoes.info/ [Accessed 25 Aug 2014].

How is YOUR team like lava...

How is YOUR team like lava...
and how can you use those similarities to help them move?

#1:  Bubbling, boiling, unlimited potential beneath a dormant surface.

• The first thing you have to do as a manager that wants to move your team is to evaluate the current state of your department and then evaluate the traits and characteristics of your team players.  A volcano may seem unassuming.  It stands there sometimes for years with nothing, no activity, covered in homes, animals, and vegetation, maybe an occasional warning rumble.  

• BUT BENEATH.  Beneath there is a hot flowing river of unlimited potential that when unleashed can consume everything in its path.  It is the power of our abilities that keeps us boiling.  Recognizing the strengths and potential in each member, speaking to it, praising it, growing it, is an important place to start.  

• Whether you are a new leader in your environment or you have known these people for years, you will be surprised at what you will learn as you critically evaluate each one.  This task is different from the typical annual performance evaluation.  Rather than looking at performance overall, you are to genuinely search for talent and character traits that are key to your team's success.  I think it will feel great, and maybe unusual or strangely optimistic, to be focused solely on the good for a change.  

• We will talk later about critiquing and coaching for improvement when you see the not-so-good behaviors, but in order to start your "explosive" journey, I want you to start on the right foot, the good foot.  I guarantee that even your worst performer will have something that they do well or that they can grow or can teach others.  

• Even something as simple as attention to detail (which sometimes may actually make them your lowest volume producer) can be a characteristic that they take pride in, something you can appreciate, something that is unique to them.  Start considering how you can use these strengths to encourage them, build their confidence, how it can benefit others in the team where they are weak, and how can it benefit you.  

• It may sound like capitalizing on someone else's abilities, but in truth, your goal is to be successful as a group.  There's no "I" in a team scenario...Well there's no "I" in lava either, and you will be surprised how powerful your team can be.  But you won't consume the village with one drop, one player, it takes the whole body moving as river.  

• So, step number one: identify what are the strengths that make up the potential of your lava.

Picture borrowed is kilauea-volcano-lavakilauea-lava---wordlesstech-eslozttl (from www.travelsworlds.com).