Change Management and Rotten Fence Posts
Change management can feel like fixing a rotten fence post!
We discovered the swaying fence last week and with a gentle push the post cracked off at the base – we now had a long weekend project. Breaking the post off and dethatching it from the fence was easy, but the base was encased in a foot or more of concrete, 3 feet below ground.
This suddenly felt like metaphor for how change management can feel within organizations, so here we go.
We (mostly my husband) dug for 2 days, wrestling with chunks of concrete, clay and dirt – the post below the rot didn’t want to budge no matter what tools we took to it. In the end (and in my frustration), I took my foot to the post. Because we’d managed to pull out the concrete on one side I figured if I applied enough pressure, leverage would serve me.
And it did! Once we got the rest of the post out, the remaining concrete fell away.
Change initiatives can feel similar.
The initial change might be easily identified, and the change communication sent out; but then leaders run headlong into their culture, which much like the concrete and clay, sits deeper in the organization with their people.
And this is where a change initiative inevitably stalls and even fails.
I’ve heard the last ditch, “foot-shove,” firsthand once the change meets resistance deeper in an organization:
“If they don’t like it, they can quit”,
“Just tell them they have to do it”,
“Do they not understand the implications if we don’t make these changes?!”
The frustration is real, and tension and stress are palpable. But there are easier ways to move teams through change so it doesn’t feel like chiselling concrete or forcing the matter out of frustration. Here are 3 ways:
1. Include them as early as possible in the change design.
Pull your team into the design process where possible.
This will allow them to participate early on, voice their ideas and concerns, increasing the likelihood of their acceptance in the long run – we’re far more likely to embrace the things we’ve designed or had a hand in creating.
2. Create space for conversations about the change.
There’s a tendency to hold meetings or townhalls which serve to disseminate information and provide time for questions, but that’s one sided and a recipe for resistance. It says to your people “We’ve already decided what’s happening and we’re really not interested in what you think.”
If your team can’t be included in the design, then create space for feedback. But understanding that as leaders we are usually unaware of the degree to which the change will impact their day-to-day. Give them a chance to share that with you.
Ask open ended, thought provoking questions - this will allow you to get a better sense of potential issues that could arise in the midst of the change.
3. Check in, and then check-in again, and again, and again.
Once the change is “launched” there will be hiccups and frustrations. Things are not going to go the way you planned on paper and in meetings. How will you navigate failure and support your people do as well?
Here’s the other thing about change - it’s like flexing a new muscle and in the midst of newness and unease “we don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training” ~ Archilochus.
In other words, we fall back our our default ways of responding.
So, it becomes critical at this early stage that they’re not only on the receiving end of feedback, both positive and constructive, but have opportunity to voice what’s working and not working. This not only gives you so you a clear sense of progress, but also provides opportunity to be proactive. This will save you a lot of unnecessarily pain in the long-run.
At the end of the day, change takes time.
It’s a process, not a one time event - it require commitment, patience, agility, and a willingness to fail, learn, and try again. It rarely feels easy, but it also doesn’t have to a slog.
In actual fact, if done in a way that holistic, inclusive and innovative, it can actually be exciting and enjoyable.