Change Management - May the Force Be With You!
People do not fear change. We fear uncertainty. We fear loss. We fear the unknown. Change is a very normal part of our lives. So, let’s start any change management conversation by dropping the antiquated adage that people fear change and start focusing on how to remove the unknown.
In a very short simplistic statement, I will say that effective change requires significant communication and training. Those two elements are foundational to any change efforts. By communicating and training uncertainty can be removed. But the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of communicating and training can be very challenging to identify. We often run off preconceived notions (like people fear change) that miss the mark entirely.
To better understand the answers to the fundamental Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of training and communication it is important to conduct a very thorough analysis of the internal and external environment. We must identify every force that is either working to aid in the change as well as every force working to hinder the change. No matter how small, it must be identified.
A model first presented by a scholar named Kurt Lewin in the 1950s and then later extrapolated by Joe Thomas is called a Force Field Analysis (Thomas, 1985). This analysis helps organizations identify the forces for and against change. While there are many lessons in this analysis, what is critical about the Force Field Analysis is to put math to the forces. In the image above, one can see the forces for and against change illustrated as arrows of various lengths. The length of the arrow indicates the strength of the force. There can be a million little arrows pointing in one direction and if there is a single arrow of length that exceeds the combined length of all the small arrows, the little arrows will lose. Each force must be quantified and put on opposite sides in an equation to find the current equilibrium point. Movement of the equilibrium requires that the forces for change exceed those resisting the change.
The desired future state or position is identified by calculating the change to each variable. As the forces resisting the change are lessened, their value in the equation will decrease. The same is true for the forces pushing for change. As the new equilibrium is achieved, the desired change occurs.
Where many organizations fail in change management is by putting significant effort into leveraging the driving forces for change and not minimizing the forces against change. Tension and conflict will rise quickly if one set of forces takes precedence over the other. Both sets of forces require attentive effort to ensure balanced outcomes. Focused efforts on reducing the forces against change in balance with efforts for change will often create a more harmonious change effort.
Let’s stop assuming people are the issue in change efforts. Put math behind the change analysis. Remove uncertainty and the unknown. And communicate<->train<->communicate<->train indefinitely. These are not only requirements for any change effort, but they are also cornerstones of a performance culture.
May the force be with you!
Reference:
Thomas, J. (1985). Force Field Analysis: A New Way to Evaluate Your Strategy. Long Range Planning, 18(6), 54-59.
