Part 12 – How to manage Change
This post is a lesson excerpt from the How to incrementally improve your Team course
The Change Process
Moving your team through the three-team development stages (Good, Great and High-Performance Team) represents individual team member and team collective change. The team has to learn new behaviours, new thinking and new ways of working, Team building is such a positive experience however that it is rare to encounter any serious change-related problems. Around 80% of people sail through the changes as the prevailing attitude is usually very positive. Nonetheless, that leaves 20% of people who do struggle with the discipline and work required to reach new levels of performance, it is highly recommended therefore that you have a basic knowledge of the human change process to be able to successfully get these people to the other side. There are specific change stages that we as humans move through and these stages need to be carefully managed. The approach the course is based on takes the change process into account; it starts off with easier topics, progressively moving onto more challenging ones making it a low-risk approach.
If, however, you are making wholesale changes across a department, then understanding the change process is all the more critical, especially for changes such as.
1. Changing people’s positions.
2. Moving people between teams.
3. Merging teams.
4. Retiring legacy systems or work functions.
5. Outsourcing a team or department.
1. The Tuckman team cycle
The Tuckman team cycle is a view of change specific to new teams or new team members showing how new behaviours emerge. Bruce Tuckman first published his model of group dynamics in 1965 comprising the four stages: forming, storming, norming and performing.
Figure 1, Tuckman’s stages of team development.
Forming. The main difference between a random group of people and a team is the team’s common goal. When individuals are first brought together, they do not have a common goal. They may be anxious about why they have been brought into this team; will be hesitant about their new environment, unsure of what they have in common with other team members and confused as to the purpose of a project or program. Typically, the individuals will indulge in some superficial questioning of colleagues to look for more information, common ground and possible allegiances.
Storming. Different individuals will behave in very different ways during the storming stage with outbreaks of conflict being frequent between individuals or small sub-groups within the team. The more assertive individuals will try to impose some order by defining their own rules, resulting in leadership being challenged while a ‘pecking order’ is established. Assuming a common goal has been identified, very different views will arise as to how that goal should be achieved.
Norming. As the issues and conflicts of the storming stage are resolved, the team members start to settle down and concentrate on tasks and problems rather than personalities. An acceptance of shared values and behaviours develops with open communication that promotes constructive review and suggestions for alternatives. Team members are starting to become a cohesive unit, genuinely working as a team with its capabilities being greater than the sum of its parts.
Performing. By this stage, the team is working as a focused unit. There is a collaboration between team members to solve problems with a visible change in mentality. There is a shared responsibility for the common goal, and individuals are confident enough to innovate and provide insights into problems. Team members demonstrate flexibility, with job titles becoming transparent and delegation of authority working efficiently.
All Teams move through the stages of forming, storming, norming and performing, as with other teams. However, with the right training, a Team uses the storming and norming phase effectively to define who they are and what their overall goal is, and how to interact together and resolve conflicts. Therefore, when a Team reaches the performing phase, they have highly effective behaviours that allow them to overachieve in comparison to regular teams.
2. The Kubler-Ross change curve
The Kubler-Ross Change Curve has been adopted into the world of organisational change from an unlikely source. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was a Swiss psychiatrist who developed it in response to working with terminally ill patients.
The Kubler Ross change curve works as a rough map to position employees on a change curve. Plus, it provides some simple steps for managing change and helping a team to move forward. One useful tool for leading change is the change curve. It provides a framework for mapping the emotions people are likely to be experiencing during different stages of the change management process.
Figure 2, The Kubler-Ross change curve.
The stages of the Kubler-Ross curve. It is essential to understand that we do not always move along the stages step by step. People tend to move into stages in random order and may sometimes even return to a previous stage. Each stage can last for a different period, and someone can get stuck in a stage and not move on.
Shock. Surprise at the announcement of impending change.
Denial. This stage is mostly short-lived. Team members may not be able to digest the fact that they are being asked to undergo a change. It can cause a reduction in productivity and a focus on the past. As a manager, your role is to help employees understand why this is occurring and how it will be helpful. This stage requires communication with all questions answered.
Anger. When reality sets in team members may begin to fear what lies ahead, turning into anger. This stage must be managed very carefully as some employees may tend to vent their anger. Open and honest communication and support should be the focus. Given time this will pass away and make way for acceptance.
Bargaining. When team members and staff finally understand the change and realise how they must adapt, they may try to bargain their way out, so that little is compromised. People cannot be rushed into learning quickly or adapting to changes rapidly. Do not expect 100% productivity during this stage.
Depression. This stage may not be a happy one for some team members. This stage results in low morale and enthusiasm. It is important to appreciate that this stage is not easy for everyone affected. Training has an important role to play here, the more that is provided, the better it enables everyone to move forward.
Acceptance. At this stage, people begin to accept change, accept the situation and start moving forward. They accept and understand the need for the change. It’s at this stage that the benefits of the hard work put in by them so far start to materialise. The team is showing improvements now, and productivity begins to improve. It’s now time to celebrate.
Dead car battery example
One of the best examples of the Kubler-Ross Change Curve is the Dead Car Battery example. The following example demonstrates the transition process from one stage to another. It’s a chilly winter morning, and it is dark outdoors. There is a thin layer of frost on the ground, but you are late for work and hence must rush out to the car parked outside. As you place the key in the ignition and turn the car on, you realise that the battery is dead.
What follows is a clear demonstration of a version of the Kubler-Ross stages.
1. Denial. Your first reaction is of absolute shock and denial. You cannot believe this is happening to you when you are already running late, and you, therefore, try to start the car again and again.
2. Anger. Now that you realise the car cannot be started, you begin to feel angry and very mad at the situation.
3. Bargaining. Even knowing it won’t help, you start asking the car to start, just for once. You promise it in your mind that you will keep it maintained and get the battery charged as soon as possible.
4. Depression. All the negative thoughts start rushing to your mind. You begin to feel depressed, sad and hopeless. You fear your job will be taken away and see no way out of the situation.
5. Acceptance. Now you figure out what you should do next. You can catch a cab and decide to deal with the situation later.
Taking the Change Curve into consideration can significantly boost the chances of success of change because it addresses the critical thing that makes change happen - people. If you can’t bring people along for the ride, the efforts for managing change will fail.
There are many Change Models, but the one that I have observed most often in practice is the Kubler-Ross curve. Each time you introduce something new, the team will move through or jump between these stages until a new skill or behaviour becomes the norm. As the rate of change increases, so will the speed of moving through the stages until the curve becomes normalised.