According to David Beckham, Posh Spice has eaten the same meal for 25 years.
Okay, so maybe that says more about diet culture than it does about organisational change, but bear with me.
According to Spotify, my top listen hasn’t changed since 2002, when Eminem released Lose Yourself. I’ve been getting amped at the gym to the same song for 22 years.
It’s not just me and Posh Spice.
Humans aren’t great at change.
Sure, a few extraordinary humans in history have been pretty good at kicking off change processes and the rest of us have gone along for the ride. But there’s also plenty of examples where we have pushed back against change, even when it’s good for us, and seems obvious in hindsight.
Dr. Semmelweiss, one of the earliest promoters of hygiene practices in hospitals, was proclaimed a ‘lunatic’ and 20 years after he introduced hand washing he was confined to an asylum.
Galileo revolutionised scientific thinking with his new ideas and non-traditional practices but as a result he was confined to house arrest.
Your team may not be locking their leaders up when change is introduced, but that doesn’t mean they are happily volunteering to come along for the ride.
Organisational Change
Whether it’s a restructure, a new senior hire, cost-cutting measures or a change in direction, organisations know change is a normal part of maintaining a successful business.
And yet organisations mess it up, creating disgruntled employees who fight them every step of the way - even when the new ideas are good and have the potential to help everyone.
With the pace of change accelerating as organisations pivot to adjust to life post-pandemic, leaders must learn to do change well or risk losing the support of their workforce.
Your people’s response to change impacts everything, from company culture to the speed of successful change to organisation-wide stress levels and productivity.
Why is change so hard?
Anyone who has tried to change themselves by either taking up a new positive habit or getting rid of an old one will understand that change is hard.
Giving up smoking? Hard. Eating healthier? Hard. Getting up earlier? Hard. Sticking to a new exercise programme? Hard. Even something as simple as trying out a new recipe can seem like a huge pain in the ass if we’re not in the right frame of mind.
Why?
Our brains are like pattern-seeking missiles. We are incredible good at repeating behaviours.
This is because our behaviours are made up of messages that are sent and received via billions of neural ‘pathways’ that fire in the same way to repeat the same behaviour over and over.
Imagine a ball rolling down a well-worn path. Going off-piste and traveling new ground is possible, but it takes planned intervention and effort. Like that ball, your brain will always take the path of least resistance.
Brains don’t like to change. They like to travel the same well worn pathways that they are used to.
‘The same’ means safety, and low effort, and for our brains honed over centuries of evolution, low effort safety means survival. It’s a no-brainer!
How can we make change work?
Trying to drag people kicking and screaming into change won’t work.
Anyone who has ever bargained ineffectually with a toddler will understand that there are some fights you just can’t win by pushing.
You need to understand where the other side is coming from, and work with them until you are on the same page.
Step one - Understand how change works.
The ability to deal with change isn’t a personality trait.
Sure, there are some factors that make some people more or less able to handle change at any given moment in time but in general, humans will approach change in the same way.
We are dealing with brains here. We like to think we’re unique, but most of us are pretty similar.
Getting other people to change might seem impossible, and it certainly isn’t easy, but it’s not rocket science.
The first thing to understand is how the human brain moves through change.
Stages of Change
In 1983, James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente came up with the Stages of Change model to break down how people process change.
They called it the ‘Transtheoretical Model of Change.’
Prochaska and DiClemente broke down the change process, and we’re here to break down their breakdown. You can read their original research here.
If you would like to understand the model in more detail, check out our previous blog about change for individuals here and applying the model in a practical way here.
Stage one
Nope
No chance
Not happening
Not interested
Stage two
Maybe
Might think about it
Potentially
Stage three
Dipping my toes in the water
Actively trying it out
Navigating
Stage four
It’s happening
I’m doing the thing
Whee this is cool
Stage five
What change?
This is normal now
How to guide people through the Stages of Change
Recognise where they are on their change journey.
Meet them where they are - don’t try to force the process.
Create trust before change happens. Do your people trust you? Do they trust the organisation? Successful change starts before change starts, with a culture of trust.
Involve them in the process - understand what the roadblocks are at each stage and brainstorm solutions.
Be their cheerleader. Be human. Make their experience of you a positive one.
In a nutshell
Meet people where they are at, understand their motivations, and give them what they need at that stage.
TLDR: Don’t do this
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Want to read more practical tips to navigating organisational change?
Download our short practical guide to organisational change here and follow Glia Director Bridget Jelley on LinkedIn here for more practical guides to Workplace Psychology.
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