Daryl Conner

Managing at the speed of change

The dos and don't of ongoing turbulence

Daryl Conner starts with the question: "Why?"

Given that people will resist change - and that resistance will be articulated as "why?" - he suggests [in his book "Managing at the Speed of Change"] that senior management prepare very thorough answers to the following questions:

• What's wrong with the way we've been doing things?
• Why were we doing them wrong before?
• What will happen to me?
• When?
• What can I do about it?
• What is expected of me?
• What does it mean in my day-to-day job?
• What will management or leadership do about it?
• If I encounter problems, what do I do, to whom do I turn?

The Daryl Conner model starts with the premise that “Uninformed Optimism" is always followed by “Informed Pessimism” and humans will choose the comfort of familiarity over the anxiety that comes with the unknown.

Perpetual change

Daryl Conner suggests that as we now live in an era of perpetual change and disturbance, we need to expect more change: "we need to stop assuming we are one project away from things settling down."

He says that we focus an inordinate amount of time and energy into trying to make people feel comfortable during a major change - where as the reality is they won’t – dramatic change is uncomfortable.

The leader’s role in change is not to make people feel happy about the change: it’s helping them succeed despite their discomfort. It is not necessary for people to like what has happened to them – it is necessary that they make the adjustments that will help them succeed in the new environment.

In my opinion, this is a deeply pragmatic view that is well attuned to the current climate: Connor's "Response to Change"

For more on all this and with a timely reminder about related topics
subscribe to your E-ZINE - "Strategies for Managing Change". Sent out approximately every 2 weeks to anyone involved in or planning a change initiative.

Change is a messy business

As Daryl Conner acknowledges, change is a messy business fraught with complexity, multiple factors and many things that can, and usually do, go wrong. There are 3 broad areas that need to be included in any successful change initiative, namely:

• Leadership that directly addresses the transitions and emotional dimension of those impacted by the change, and provides inspirational motivation
  
• A change model and methodology that covers the multiple factors that must be addressed
  
• Action management that shows and assists people with the specifics of exactly what is required of them

These are addressed in the "Practitioners Masterclass" which takes a holistic view of the key areas and shows you how to put all this into practise.

And all of this is examined, co-related and integrated with the other key areas leading your people through change, putting it all together and managing the whole messy business.

To equip yourself, stay one step ahead with the tools and processes that will enable you to manage the messy stuff - check out the Practitioners' Masterclass [or click on the image to the right].

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