Would you be interested in contributing to some experimentation we are undertaking at SKAI? Our initial findings with clients are showing that we could be on to something useful. We'd love to widen the net of experimentation and are therefore inviting you to participate. If you're keen to, then read on.
You might be familiar with the "change curve" as a model for understanding how individuals respond to change. At SKAI, we have been experimenting with the thought that the change curve can also be applied to whole organisations in times of significant change, and that it can therefore be very useful in formulating effective action(s) to improve performance.
Of course, significant change can be driven by external factors e.g. recession, changing market place, new clients, new regulations; or internally driven e.g. downsizing, budget cuts, restructuring, new leadership, new vision/mission etc. Our theory is that whatever the impetus, the organisation as a whole will go through the change curve stages (in the same way that individuals do) "shock, denial, anger, acceptance, experimentation" before returning to the performance stage of the model.
So what do you need to do to participate? To find out if your organisation is going through the change curve, and to locate your organisation on the curve, you need to follow these simple three steps:
• Question yourself on whether things feel "not quite right", or if "people are not behaving how they used to"
• Identify if there is indeed a "significant change" occurring in your organisation
• Have a look at the change curve (a copy is attached but we have also extracted examples of what you might see and feel at each stage in the next section) and see if any of these ring a bell about what you see and hear going on around you:
SHOCK
• Previously decisive individuals vacillate
• Strategic thinking overtaken by short term plans
• People stop delivering on agreed actions.
DENIAL
• People say they haven't received repeated communication
• People keep on doing things that are no longer appropriate
• Plausible excuses are made for non-attendance/taking part.
ANGER
• People fixate on small things
• Extreme emotions come through
• Righteousness, enrolling others.
ACCEPTANCE
• Low energy, resignation, lack of emotion, giving up
• Asking specific questions
• Listening to answers.
EXPERIMENTATION
• Drama disappears, normal topics of conversation resume
• Laughter and wry humour
• Curiosity and seeking out new opportunities.
So what do you do if you have identified your organisation as being at a particular point on the organisational change curve? Well, having an awareness of what is going on is the first step in making progress. Sharing this information with others so that they too can understand what is going on is the next step. Finally, you need to apply the right change management techniques to move the organisation through the curve. Remember, the reason for generating this awareness is to progress the organisation as swiftly as possible, and with as little pain, to being able to perform optimally once more. Keep in mind that you can speed up the journey through the curve but you can't by-pass or omit a stage.
If you're interested in participating further, then reply to this e-mail and let us know:
• What type of change your organisation is undergoing
• Which one of the stages on the organisational change curve is your organisation currently going through.
We'd also be interested if you have come across any other "indicators" that show that your organisation is most likely at a particular stage.
As well as testing out our theory regarding the organisation change curve, we're also interested in whether or not there are any differences regarding how organisations are coping with change depending on which sector they are in. We'll let you know the results if we get sufficient replies, and in a later communication we'll look at actions that are effective in moving organisations on through each of the stages to performance. |
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