Day Two Session Two – Mastering Change

An organization can succeed during change when…

• Leadership believes the organization has a great future.
• Leadership is proactive; expecting and looking for opportunities to change rather than wait for pain to force change.
• The organization is small or the smaller divisions of the organization have great autonomy when making decisions.
• Leadership understands the mission of the organization, and they communicate that mission effectively.
• Leadership embodies the organization’s values.

Taken from the Applied Leadership IV workbook section 4 page 6

Three Stages of Change:

1. Endings
1. Denial: When a big change is announced, the first response is often numbness. The announcement is ignored; nothing happens. People continue to work as usual. Productivity continues as if nothing has been affected.

i. Behaviors: business as usual, withdrawal, focus on the past, lots of activity but little accomplished or improved

2. Resistance: This occurs when people have moved through the numbness of denial and begin to experience self-doubt, anger, depression, anxiety, frustration, fear, or uncertainty because of the change. Here, they experience a “victim” mentality; they talk about how har things are and why they can’t possibly make the change work. They bring problems rather than solutions, hoping the change will pass and things will return to “normal.”

i. Behaviors: anger, blame, anxiety, depression, retirement on the job, “who cares” attitude

2. Middle
1. Exploration: Energy is released as people focus their attention on the future and toward the external environment once again. This stage contains chaos as people try to figure out new responsibilites, search for new ways to relate to each other, learn more about their future, and wonder how things will work. During exploration, people draw on their internal creative energy to figure out ways to capitalize on the future.

i. Behaviors: uncertainty, stress, questioning, testing ideas

3. Beginings
1. Commitment: People begin to focus ona plan of action for moving themselves and the organization forward. They learn new ways to work together and have jointly revised roels and expectations.

i. Behaviors: checking and validating; having a sense of purpose, adventure, optimism

People don’t always go through all of these stages. They can remain stuck at endings or in the middle. They can move forward to beginnings and then slide back to endings. They can yo-yo between denial and resistance. However, these three stages are experienced by most people facing change and knowing about the stages can help one through those tough early stages.

Taken from the Applied Leadership IV workbook section 4 page 14

Steps to manage and lead for change:

• Analyze the change
• Identify where you and your team are
• Define the challenges
• Decide how to best meet those challenges
• Define what needs to be communicated

Taken from the Applied Leadership IV workbook section 4 page 22