As a leader in your organization you are expected to make things happen and lead the change that brings a difference to your constituents. Our own personal understanding of and capacity for change drives our ability to help others through change. How you first react to change gives you clues that can help you manage others.
There’s no right or wrong way to react to change. Your reaction is an emotional response to the stress of change. Common reactions include:
- Denial – “Nothing ever changes around here. There’s no point in worrying, this will all blow over”
- Anger – “This is unfair. Why are they doing this to me”
- Depression – “Why bother. Nothing makes a difference
- Acceptance – “OK I’ll try my best”
- Enthusiasm – “Wow this is the greatest thing ever! When do we start.”
It’s of course not the reaction to change that creates issues but behavior that occurs as a result of that reaction. These behaviors can range from overly enthusiastic speculation (“Wow – this will cause the sun to shine brighter”) to out right sabotage of change initiatives. Both ends of this behavioral spectrum are counter-productive.
So the next time you find yourself reacting to change step back and take a deep breath. Ask yourself:
- What was my emotional reaction? Was it one of the five above or something different?
- What’s the first action I thought about taking? Would that behavior have been productive? Would it accomplish what I want it to? Would it have reflected positively on me in the eyes of my staff, peers and supervisors?
Remember everyone around you is probably responding to news of change in one of the ways noted above. Makes for a chaotic situation.
We’ve developed a workshop for leaders of change called “Navigating Change”. The workshop helps you better understand your personal reaction to and capacity for change, your staffs’ approach to change, and helps you design an effective change management plan that acknowledges our emotional reaction to change AND guides individuals to productive actions that successfully implement change.