Organizations are like the tide; they ebb and flow. They change. And whether change is intense (e.g., a merger or new leadership) or chaotic (e.g., 9/11, SARS), in every change there’s both danger and opportunity, says Peggy Grall, a certified executive coach, speaking today at the Employee Assistance Program Association of Toronto’s seminar, Managing the Big Fat Changes.

Getting There
When implementing change, organizations need to think about two main questions: Where are we going, and how do we get there? But getting there is not always a smooth process.

“Whether you choose change or change is thrust upon you, there is a transition process to go through,” Grall says. While the organization changes, employees don’t necessarily change with it. The transition is much more gradual. For example, when an organization decides to make a leadership change (i.e., there’s a new boss); employees make a choice (i.e., they ask themselves, “Do I stay or quit?”). Where an organization sees a change as a new beginning, many employees may grieve and find it hard to let go of the “old ways.”

Success Factors
Grall says for a successful change, six factors should be present:

• Vision – provide a clearly defined goal.
• Skills – the technical, interpersonal and political abilities needed to achieve that goal.
• Incentives – motivation or enticement; provide employees with a reason to pursue the goal. (The biggest motivation is inclusion, says Grall. Make people feel part of the change.)
• Resources – time, people and funds to implement the change.
• Action plan – provide clear, comprehensive strategies, tactics and timelines to achieve the goal.
• Communication – articulate and distribute information about attaining the goal across the organization and beyond. (You cannot overcommunicate, Grall stresses, even though you’ll feel as if you are. “Communicate, communicate, communicate.”)

While all six factors may not bring the ideal “perfect” change, without all six, trouble ensues. For example, an organization with no vision will have nothing but confused employees. If the skills component is missing, you’ll have a number of anxiety-ridden employees on your hands. And no or infrequent communication will only lead to “suspicious rumour mills.” “In the absence of good information, people make it up,” Grall says.

Just like Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief, change, too, has five stages, says Grall.

1. astonishment/shock/denial (“Are they kidding?”)
2. backlash/anger/resistance (“It won’t work. We tried that 10 years ago.”)
3. challenge/bargaining (“I’ll do this if I can get a better parking spot.”)
4. development/explore/acceptance (“We could do it this way, if….”) Grall says employers should welcome these employee conversations. “Fan that flame,” she says, “they’re out of denial.”
5. embrace/engage/enhance (“I can do that…”)

But as executives, managers and employees navigate the ebb and flow of the implemented and soon-to-be implemented changes, Grall says remember to grant one another grace and promote the we’re-all-in-this-together mentality. “Change can get difficult, so buddy up.”

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