Helping Clients Through the Deep Emotions of Change
In this series, I have been talking about recognizing and responding to the deep emotion of transformational change.
Serving as a professional change facilitator is challenging under any circumstances but this is especially true when attending to people in the midst of deeply emotional, or cathartic, breakthroughs. The intense struggle associated with trying to hold on to the status quo, the anxiety of letting go, and then the difficulties of opening up to new possibilities generates extremely profound emotions that we must be prepared to recognize and respond to properly.
The following items represent aspects of practicing our craft that most of us employ in our work anyway. When dealing with people expressing cathartic-level emotions, however, these components of our work are particularly important. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Adjusting to the Unfamiliar Is an Emotional Process
In the last post, I hope I made the case that both logic and emotion are employed in successful transformational initiatives. Although a balance between the two is our ultimate aim, there are times when we need to attend more to the client’s emotions than to their rational processing of change, and that is the focus of this series.
When working with clients, it’s important to note that there is a wide range of situations that evoke strong emotions:
- Some surface positive feelings, others negative.
- Some are transient, others sustained.
- Some are easy to interpret; others are complicated with conflicting signals.
- Some are indicative of singular issues; others reflect multiple dynamics.
- Some dissipate once “venting” takes place; others linger and become embedded.
- Some are associated with holding on to the past, others with the ambiguity of the present, while still others are associated with the dangers/opportunities of the future.
I’d like to share with you some observations and learnings around what I consider the most challenging emotion-based work our profession engages in with clients… more
ChangeThinking.net
©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
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
ChangeThinking.net
©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Harness the Momentum of Synergy to Realize Change Goals
This is the last post in my series on developing synergistic work teams. I have been describing a four-phase model that includes Interacting, Appreciative Understanding, Integrating, and Implementing.
Phase IV: Implementing
Finally, all the hard work of communicating, and appreciating and merging divergent views begins to pay off. The synergy process I’ve been describing has many benefits: more
ChangeThinking.net
©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Guest Interview—Mel Toomey
(2) Comments
Mel has been in and around the change business for a long time. He is one of the few practitioners who can honestly measure his contribution to our field in decades. But the extensive time he’s devoted to understanding the dynamics of change pales when compared to what he has learned and passed on to countless others. His insights and perspectives go far beyond knowledge of concepts and techniques—he is a source of true wisdom.
Mel approaches the change process through his unique focus on leadership as a distinct profession. He has been associated with and/or has formulated four different platforms that allow him to engage his work:
- Scholar in Residence at the Graduate Institute (www.learn.edu)
- Founder of the Generative Leadership Group (www.glg.net)
- Founder of the Center for Leadership Studies (www.maol.net)
- Lead faculty for the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program at the Center for Leadership Studies
The first time I heard Mel speak, I found his views on leadership and change to be penetrating, challenging, and compelling. Over the years, he has been an important resource for my development and it’s an honor to have this opportunity to introduce him to those who might not be familiar with his work. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Before Shift Happens
(1) CommentIn my last post, I talked about the term “paradigm shift.” Very simply, we can say it’s “a fork in the road that opens up a completely new way of perceiving, thinking, and taking action—with no turning back.” I also said that the term has become part of our slang, and that its real meaning has often been diluted more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Lessons Learned About Building Commitment to Change
After three-and-a-half decades of being a professional change practitioner, I’ve seen my share of successful and unsuccessful attempts to generate enough commitment to reach full realization. If there is one thing I’m sure of it’s that the necessary momentum and critical mass of commitment toward desired outcomes is not easy to come by. Below are some of the more important lessons that have affected my practice.
1. The commitment process unfolds at both intellectual and emotional levels.
Usually, intellectual commitment precedes emotional commitment. Most people can grasp the implications of a change at a cognitive level fairly quickly. However, they often find that they need more time to make the necessary emotional adjustments.
This split-level commitment can produce confusion, mixed signals, and more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
The Importance of Commitment in Change
(1) Comment“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” ~Author Unknown
There are so many aspects to being a professional change practitioner that it’s easy to lose sight of the fundamentals that comprise our role. It’s OK to add all the bells and whistles we want, but at the same time, we must deliver on the basics. One way to think about the bottom line of our function is that, as change facilitators, more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
