COLUMN -
Change Management
Inflicting
Type III Change
(4th and last in
the "The 3 Shades of Change")
Type I – Change which is done to us.
Type II – Change which we do to
ourselves.
Type III – Change which we do to others.
This is the crux of Change issue for
management; "How do we inflict Change on others and get
them to embrace the new and let go of the old?"
The word 'inflict' in the title, was
deliberately chosen after careful consideration. It is a
distinctly negative word, bringing to mind all sorts of
nasty accidents with sharp objects. Why use such an
emotionally charged word? Because it serves as a strong
reminder that Type III Change, is also Type I Change. It
is "Change which is done to us!" from their perspective.
Any manager, who loses sight of the above
observation, transforms the Change process from something
which is difficult enough on its own, to something even
more challenging.
The trick, or 'strategy' if you prefer, is
to realize that if you concluded that Change is necessary,
then it is nearly always possible for others to arrive at
the same conclusion. Providing of course, they are given
the same information you used when you decided Change was
necessary. With this approach, it is possible to shift
their 'Type I' Change into the universally more acceptable
'Type II' Change.
While this strategy is NOT always
possible, every time it is possible, we convert a
difficult process into a simpler one.
When is it possible? Far more often than
one might expect, but it does require a shift to how we
think of management's role.
If we believe it is management's
responsibility, and theirs alone, to make decisions and to
implement them, then we encounter a world where people
nearly always 'Resist Change', as in 'They resist being
Changed'.
On the other hand, if instead we see
management's role as that of getting others to make
particular decisions, and to create environments where it
is easier for them to implement those decisions, then
Change becomes easier. The 'Resistance to Change' we
encounter in this new situation is more in response to the
difficulties of letting go of old habits, and the pain of
learning something new, rather than to the Change itself.
This shift in thinking isn't a trivial
exercise. Some managers rebel against the notion that
employees can, or should, make decisions. They consider
those decisions the exclusive domain of management, and
are much more comfortable telling people what to do,
rather than having them decide it is necessary.
There is a common belief that this type of
employee empowerment takes too long, it is just easier and
quicker to tell people what you want, rather than having
them figure it out for themselves.
The problem is, while it is certainly
quicker to tell people what to do, that time savings is
all for naught, if they resist doing it. On the other
hand, when people decide that something needs doing, it is
almost impossible to stop them from doing it. "Resistance
to Change" is not an issue, when they decide it's time to
Change.
This series started out with the intent of
creating a distinction between different types of Change
more useful than large/small, easy/difficult. In the end
there are only two types of Change... That which we do to
ourselves, and enforced Change, which like a coin has two
inseparable sides; "Change we do to others"/"Change done
to us".
In the end, the best type of Change is
that which we decide to embrace on our own, and
management's challenge, which requires innovation, clever
thinking and a dose of luck, is to funnel all Change into
that single category. This is a difficult objective, but
not an impossible one if we're willing to Change our own
style of management.
© 2004, Peter de Jager – Peter is a
Change Management Consultant, Seminar Leader and Speaker.
Visit him at
www.technobility.com To get access to all installments
of this series contact him at
pdejager@technobility.com or follow the links below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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