The Emotional Side to Facilitating Change
(1) CommentTo the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul.” —Arnold Bennett
A great deal of emotional investment is necessary to achieve the desired outcome of strategic initiatives, yet most change endeavors lean heavily toward the intellectual components (data reviews, critical activities and milestones, logical presentations, rational decision-making, etc.). Several factors contribute to this, one being that intellectual commitment typically precedes emotional commitment and thus, in some ways, is easier to come by. That is, people may quickly grasp the implications of a change at a rational level but then find that they need more time and effort to make the necessary emotional adjustments.
When emotional accommodation is too far behind the logical acceptance of change, dual—often contradictory—signals are sent by the person facing the transition. This kind of split-level commitment can produce confusion, mixed signals, and ambiguous communication for all involved. People may think that they have accepted a recent approach or policy shift only to find more
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©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Momentum and Critical Mass
In my last post, I talked about redirecting energy during a transformational change from protecting “the way things are” toward addressing the ambiguities and confusion that occur in the shift. In this context, momentum refers to the forward motion of energy through the role sequence (advocate to initiating sponsor to primary sustaining sponsors to local sustaining sponsors to targets) toward realization of the change. Regardless of which roles are involved in the energy transfer at any given time, the presence of strong momentum dramatically increases the chances for realization results. Alternatively, transfers that produce no more than moderate momentum can stall initiatives or compromise installation outcomes.
Energy transfers can result in a strong, moderate, or weak momentum exchange, which means that merely passing energy through the role sequence is not enough. Momentum must reach a certain magnitude within each person in the chain to provide the level of energy needed to ultimately achieve true realization results. When we achieve this degree of energy strength, it means the person on the receiving end of the transfer has become fully committed to the endeavor’s success. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How Do People Learn to Adapt to Change?
Major change is triggered when people face a significant discrepancy between what they expected and what actually happens during change. People adjust to change, not by learning to like what is taking place, but by forming new expectations that can lead to success under the new conditions. At a personal level, three types of energy are required to make these adjustments in expectations: more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
The Intent Architect—Guardian of Outcomes
To avoid the symptoms of intent mismanagement (see my last post) and keep the intent’s line of sight in place (clarity, expression, and integrity), critically important initiatives must be supported by an intent architect.
The intent architect is responsible for helping the initiating sponsor maintain the integrity of the intent as the transformation is executed. He or she is the guardian of the desired end state. The role includes facilitating intent clarity with the leadership team, helping to communicate it to others, and interpreting it for the various individuals and groups involved in implementation, as well as for the leadership team itself. more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
The Path of Intent Management
(1) CommentIn my last post, I said that, as practitioners, we sometimes devote more time getting people to change than we spend on the change itself, and that having a complete, concise, understandable, and compelling statement of intent is critically important to achieving change success. I’d like to say more here about managing the intent process.
When important projects are not orchestrated effectively, they sometimes melt down or never get off the ground. More often, what happens is more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Are You Stuck?
“Most obstacles are imaginary; the rest are only temporary.” ~Scott Sorrel
We all get stuck sometimes…it’s part of the human experience. We know what we want to achieve and have a plan for doing it, but suddenly we’re faced with a challenge that mystifies us. The situation may involve a problem or opportunity, but the fact is, we don’t know how to resolve it given the present circumstances (or aren’t willing to because of certain implications). In other words, becoming unstuck isn’t about problems/opportunities—it’s about problems/opportunities with no clear way to address them.
There are as many ways to be stuck as there are aspects to our lives. We can become stuck with our spouse or kids, our friends, our careers or boss, our physical well-being, our spiritual development, etc. Anything of significance that we set out to accomplish can, and most likely will, become stuck at one time or another.
Professional change facilitators are not immune to being stuck. From time to time, even the most accomplished practitioners, applying the most capable execution methodologies, are unable to find a viable resolution to a particular more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Five Lenses for Viewing Patterns of Change
We’ve been talking about lenses that practitioners can use to identify patterns, and to help sponsors deal with change. I’m sure there are lenses you pay most attention to, and I encourage you to share them here. I’ll tell you about five I often rely on:
- The importance placed on matching challenge and commitment to change
- The importance placed on the intent of the change
- The importance placed on sponsors
- The importance leaders place on agents
- Leaders’ understanding of the nature of organizational change success
Each of these lenses reveals a series of mindset and behavior patterns.
Here are a few representative examples of the success mindset patterns more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Guidelines for Dealing with Top Change Agent Challenges
Whether change agents are internal or external, they often have to operate in an environment where sponsors are less than prepared to perform their role. Here are some guidelines for addressing common challenges agents face when in service to sponsors.
Aim for realization, not installation.
Many sponsors focus on installing critical changes—putting solutions in place—rather than realizing the intended business benefits. Be sure you and your sponsor are clear on whether you are working toward full realization of the initiative’s objectives or some degree of installation with reduced expectations.
Make strong sponsorship your top priority.
Realization of change is impossible without sufficient sponsor commitment and the capacity to follow through with his or her intentions. Successful agents foster the necessary sponsor behaviors to build and maintain three critical elements: more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
