Galba Bright' 3 post guest series ... here shows the process and results of positive change -- and also shows why he's a leader in the field of Emotional Intelligence.
3 Creative Spaces for “Managing” Positive Change
“If you really want to understand something, try to change it” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Are you energised by the exciting possibilities that positive change offers?
A more effective organisation, a more profitable business, radically better customer service? These ideas get me going, yet my past experiences with major change projects makes me wonder:
Do we really manage change at all?
How to Become a “Change Management Expert”
I was given this job title when I worked as a consultant to the Government of Jamaica. I was responsible for streamlining a number of extremely bureaucratic land approval processes, involving seven Government Ministries and several agencies.
It was a challenging assignment and it offered a lot of creative space.
The project stakeholders perceived a particular Government Ministry as the organisation with the weakest performance. My research made the same finding.
Create Space for Others
During a meeting with the officials of that Ministry, I somehow found myself slowing down and really listening to them. I suggested that we take some time to review their performance reports. I knew what the exercise would reveal the problem. We worked together for half a day. The officials’ stonewalling denial of the problems gradually disappeared, only to be replaced by some spirited problem solving.
I realised that slowing down had enabled the people that I was “trying to change” to reach their own conclusions. When they were given this space, they made up their minds, we ended up with the same understanding of the problem and they initiated a series of positive changes.
Take a moment and think about any change project that you’ve been involved in. Did you follow a purely logical series of steps to become convinced of the need for change? Was your acceptance of the change automatic? I suspect that you’ll recall an emotional aspect, perhaps an “a-ha” moment of inspiration, a feeling of grim realisation that the change was inevitable, or some other sentiment.
Do you leave people enough creative space to reach their own conclusions about the changes that you are “managing?”
When you slow down you show respect for those who need to change. It’s easier to respect others if you make a habit of managing yourself.Have you found that to be so?
Galba,
That is an accurate and powerful question: "Do you leave people enough creative space to reach their own conclusions..."
People will reach their own conclusions given space or not. All of the "management of change" in the world won't overcome that which adults need to reach a level of understanding, comfort, and ultimately commitment.
While it is possible to demand that people do something differently over the short run, the result is compliance . If the goal is long-term change, people will commit as they reach their own place within the new context.
Well put.
Posted by: Steve Roesler | July 28, 2007 10:00 PM | Permalink to Comment