imapMyTeam Blog

Why transition is so hard (and what you need to know)

  

I recently returned from a board meeting and on the drive home my head was spinning. I had just participated in what had to have been the longest executive session in the history of the board- all because one person is retiring and a key information system is changing.

The system change is progressing well from a technical standpoint; the retirement has been on the horizon for 18 months. How difficult could it be? Very difficult it turns out.

The administrative arm of this organization is in upheaval and people report they are “miserable”. Why? Because the people involved in the system conversion do not like how it is changing roles and relationships. Jobs will be eliminated. And, at the same time, the retirement is creating a shuffling of duties among the remaining people who do not want to accept these newly assigned tasks and responsibilities.

The previous paragraph hints to the source of why transition is hard.

Many change/transitional efforts fail because people focus on the situational business issues of the change and forget to manage the strong behavioral issues that emerge due to the change.

There is a lot of behavioral angst involved in change because change means loss. Before you begin something new you have to end what used to be. Before we learn a new way, we need to unlearn the old way. If the organizational structure is flattened the loss could be your next promotion to the tier just flattened. There could be mourning for the loss of good friends and colleagues if there is a need to downsize. If there is a reorganization, relationships are jumbled; people you used to trust and rely on may not work with you any longer.

Changes of any sort, even those fully justified by economics, market conditions and the like, finally succeed, or fail on the basis of whether the people affected choose to do something differently.

People are highly reluctant to do things differently and make change – even when it is highly necessary unless there is some sort of personal ‘win’ involved in the change. Those ‘wins’ need to be in alignment with their internal motivational need.

How do you let go of the old way; navigate the tricky time between the old ways to the new ways efficiently – support the behavioral aspects of the transitions, not just the business aspects.

One way is to understand the stress people feel during these changes. imapMyTeam® provides great insight to the way changes cause stress when the methodology being used to manage the change is not meeting the person’s need.  It will also give you suggestions on how to manage your way through these times of transition so you have a higher likelihood of success.