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Dynamics In The Organization |
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Work Place Dynamics: Is Forced Change Real?
Companies exist in environments where customers' tastes are constantly changing, more and more information is perpetually available on the internet and competitors are constantly evolving. External factors, outside the control of your organisation are constantly in flux. As a leader, you are forced to constantly change your company and forced change is oftentimes accompanied by resistance or, sometimes, reluctant acceptance.
For practical purposes, let's take this into the realm of metaphor. A teacher sat with a student who had a personal dilemma. Her son, an adolescent, was not performing well in school and she decided to take away an activity he was passionate about in order to motivate her son into adopting the behaviours necessary for creating the desired outcome of improved grades.
This action forced her son to apply himself to the task and his grades improved. What the mother determined to be an appropriate level of discipline was enforced and her son's behaviour became aligned with her expectations. On the surface it seemed like all was well. However, the student's decision to trap her son into the desired behaviour created a domino effect that did not manifest immediately or obviously.
Over time, not being given a choice to comply with any of his mother's edicts created a greater distance between the mother and her son. He resented having his favorite past-time revoked, but, he did as he was told.
So, in this example, change happened but at what cost? Based on the son's belief systems about himself, he interpreted this lesson as - I have to forego happiness in order to meet other people's expectations and my input, preferences or feelings don't count. Over time, resentment builds.
In this case, the mother never sought to uncover the root cause of the deterioration of her son's grades. Was there a teacher in the background who didn't like him, or was there a bully at school - who knows? In this case, the mother's actions served to drive the wedge between her and her son even deeper because, the unilateral decision created resentment and distrust over the long term.
The moral of the story... A desired behaviour can be achieved by using force and the desired behaviour can appear to be positive. However, beneath the surface can lurk the iceberg of bitterness and anger which can lead to continued destructive or counterproductive behaviour.
In a business context, a retail corporation introduced a new performance management process. It was designed to embed performance management practices deeper into the corporate psyche and improve leadership, internal communication and employee accountability.
What actually happened is something inconsistent. For some, there was some resistance at first, because the new changes appeared to resemble the old model of micro management. This was a fair assessment because this was probably how they were interpreted.
There are leaders who are comfortable with the familiar, so they superimpose the old model onto the new performance management framework. And voila! They appear to be implementing the new framework.
Then there are the few who genuinely attempt to understand the new business model and implement at a deeper level, creating nspiration duringthe process.
The ultimate change environment is one of empowerment. One that is characterized and fuelled by freedom, creativity, alignment, enlightenment and curiosity. Not fear.
So how do we unleash quantum, authentic, empowered change in the work place instead of resistance? We start with the leaders. To be specific, we start at the level of the individual leader because ultimately, we tend seek collective transformation and collective transformation begins with focused dedication to personal transformation. How do we do it? One way is to transform your leaders into coaches trained to inspire vitality within individuals on their teams.
Turning leaders into coaches reframes how they view their team, the change and their team's responses to change. Effective coaches can identify obstacles to change and help members of the team create new perspectives by engaging their input in an inclusive way, gradually helping to dissipate fears.
Communication tools like creating distinctions, observation and feedback can be used to reduce discomfort. Play is another powerful tool that can be used in the context of fear. All the team leader has to do is to find what lights the team up and follow the path of lights to conscious change management!
Yvette Bethel
President
Organizational Soul
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