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
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©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
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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
How to Merge Diverse Viewpoints
This post is the fifth in a series about ways to foster synergy during major transformational initiatives, using a four-phase model that includes Interacting, Appreciative Understanding, Integrating, and Implementing.
Phase III: Integrating
Effective communication (Phase I) and valuing others’ perspectives (Phase II) are important elements of developing synergistic outcomes, but they’re not enough. Synergy is the result of communicating, valuing, and merging diverse viewpoints. As with the other two phases, accomplishing this integration is extremely difficult because many organizational cultures don’t teach and reward the skills needed to do so.
There are four basic conditions necessary for the Integrating Phase. more
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©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
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A Process for Building Organizational Synergy
This series is about the impact synergistic working relationships have on the outcomes of organizational change.
Before people can create and maintain synergistic relationships, two things must occur:
- They must be willing to engage this way with others
- They must demonstrate the abilities associated with a four-phase model: Interacting, Appreciative Understanding, Integrating, and Implementing[1]
more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Tough Conversations—Know When to Push, and When to Stop
In this series, I’m discussing the importance of having tough conversations with clients when warranted, and describing a few of the dynamics in play when this happens. Because it’s unusual to intentionally take clients to the higher end of the Discomfort Continuum that I described in my last two posts, it is likely to be difficult and stressful for us as well. As change practitioners, when we fail to address important but difficult-to-discuss issues with clients, it’s almost always because we weren’t prepared to deal with our own emotions. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How to Be Direct and Explicit When Reframing Others
(2) CommentsIn this series, I’ve been describing the skills required (there are five of them) to reframe a person’s mindset during a change initiative. In this post, I’ll talk about the final skill.
Reframing Skill #5: The Willingness to Confront
For many change facilitators, this final skill is the most difficult part of the reframing process. Being direct and explicit with other people by challenging their way of looking at the world is risky, both personally and professionally. People can become trapped in their existing perspectives and lose their ability to adapt to important changes. Most people tend to believe only what they see, but see only what they believe exists.
Sometimes, the only way to effect movement from the status quo is to “confront” people more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Danger? Opportunity? You Decide.
In this series, I’ve been talking about the importance of being able to reframe a person’s mindset during a change initiative to shift how he or she sees and interprets certain things. There are five key reframing skills:
1. Address the “context” as well as the “content” of interpersonal communications.
2. Redefine the other person’s frame of reference (FOR) in a way that sheds positive light on the successful implementation of the change at hand.
3. Reset the person’s priorities.
4. Respond effectively when the other person reacts to the reframing attempt.
5. Confront the person with the real price it takes to achieve success.
I’ll focus on the fourth skill in this post.
Reframing Skill #4: The Ability to Respond Appropriately Based on the Person’s Reaction
The disruptive nature of major change produces a crisis in the sense that the status quo is no longer viable. The Chinese express the concept of crisis with two symbols.
The top symbol represents potential danger, the lower, hidden opportunity. By combining the two, the Chinese position change as a paradox. Observing how people respond to the stress produced by the crisis of change reveals two basic orientations that reflect similar characteristics. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How to Redefine a Person’s Frame of Reference and Reset Priorities
In this series, I’m exploring the importance of being able to reframe a person’s mindset during a change initiative to shift how he or she sees and interprets certain things. There are five reframing skills. I will address skills 2 and 3 in this post, and skills 4 and 5 in subsequent posts.
Reframing Skill #2: The Ability to Redefine the Other Person’s Frame of Reference
A person’s frame of reference (FOR) is made up of six components. You can foster a shift in someone’s FOR by applying one or more of them. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
3 Steps to Communicating a Reframing Message
In my last post, I described the two elements—frame of reference (FOR) and priorities—that make up a person’s mindset. I also listed five skills that practitioners can use to “reframe” a person’s FOR and priorities to shift how that person sees and interprets certain things. Here, and in the next three posts, I’ll describe these skills in more detail.
Reframing Skill #1: Use 3-Step Communication Effectively
Communication between people always occurs at two levels:
- Content Level—The message one person is attempting to convey to another (think of this as a “coded transmission”)
- Context Level—The FOR used by the sender to interpret the message (think of this as “the code book”)
When one person attempts to communicate with another, it is often done without knowing more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Changing Someone’s Mind—The Basics of Reframing
(3) Comments“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” — Peter Drucker
An important part of successful change facilitation is the ability to influence others (especially sponsors). Sometimes we only need to explain to them what needs to be done. Much of the time, however, their behaviors and/or mindsets must be carefully reshaped for an initiative to be fully realized.
There is a close interdependency between a person’s mindset and his or her behavior. Each reflects an important component to the change process, yet many practitioners are better prepared to address the behavioral dynamics than the mindset implications. Although successful change facilitators attend to both when attempting to redirect a person’s natural reaction to a situation, this series will focus only on how to encourage new mindsets that support an initiative’s desired outcome. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
