Video Presentation: Managing Self and Others Through …



NADP VC2020 Week 2 Video TranscriptionVideo Presentation: Managing Self and Others Through ChangeGlenys Wilson, Senior Clinical PsychologistWednesday 1st July 2020Slide 1: Models of ChangeI’m Glenys Wilson, a Senior Clinical Psychologist with specialties in trauma, neurodiversity, adolescence and young people. If you have any questions about this presentation, please contact me on…Glenys Wilson Creative Solutionsgwils858@ From approximately 2009 to 2014, when I left Melbourne University Counselling and Psychological Services, the university was in widespread change, there had been ongoing change at almost every level across the years. There was little communication about what it meant other than there would be jobs lost, but what level, where and when these cuts and restructure would happen was not communicated. There was a lot of noise, talk of consultation but very little real information. People had been worn down, morale was poor and loyalty to the institution was in tatters. I was one of 4 people working in mental health and doing other training sessions through this period and almost every training we did had to address staff anxiety, anger, frustration and confusion about what was happening, before we could start on the actual topic. We also saw staff in our service and a lot of sessions were with staff around how they were handling the stress and ambiguity. I learnt a lot about how change should be managed in institutions, how it actually was handled and what it meant to try to manage other people’s stress and be supportive, while I was also in the same situation as those I was training and counselling. Change, especially in these financially stricken times, is happening across most educational and health settings. It likely that you are watching this video because you are in a similar situation. We have all been through, and are still going through, a period of change due to Covid-19 but this is coming on top of other changes that were already happening at your institutions. I am aiming for a practical session where we look at change, its effect on staff [especially when not handled well] and how you can try to ameliorate its impact on yourself and your team. Add to the above scenario our current situation where staff are, by and large, working from home and so even more isolated and cut off from information and support; and it is far more difficult to manage the team’s and your own anxiety. Decisions of management are being communicated via email and audio/video links which rob the situation of the feeling of a common humanity. There are exercises with this presentation that you will be able to do later. They are all worthwhile and could be done with the whole team during a video meeting.Slide 2: Models of ChangeKurt Lewin Kurt Lewin's Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze model and variations ADKAR? - Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, ReinforcementKotter's 8-Step Model of ChangeStephen Covey: 7 Habits ModelKubler-Ross: Stages of ChangeVirginia Satir – Model of Change Numerous others, from individual change to organisational, cultural and social – all have theoriesInitially research on change was on individual change, then change in family systems. It was more recently that change in the workplace was identified as requiring research and that models for personal and family structure change could be adapted. It is sensible really to recognise that organisations are designed and run by people, with all their personal histories, strategies, motivations, expectations and desires. It is because of these personal aspects that change which is badly handled affects productivity, loyalty and staff retention. My initial research ensured I became very quickly aware of the plethora of web articles, books and the entire vast industry of consultants vying for the job of assessing work practices and restructuring them.Slide 3: The Business of Managing ChangeAn enormous range of web pages, articles, books and guides.Most of these are business oriented but there are a number of Universities with their own guidelines and policies of how change should be undertaken. These universities include Cambridge, Aberdeen, Bath, Swansea, Sheffield, Portsmouth, York, Northumbria – many universities run courses in their Business Schools on how to manage change.However, these seemed mainly from a manager’s view where they have a say in the change or have access to feedback to senior management. Interestingly, and possibly worryingly, a point emphasised by many of the guides and articles is the importance to ‘have a plan for the change and why it’s needed’. Do look and see if your workplace has a Change Management policy so you can refer to it when you feel it is not being followed. Slide 4: Why Change?Change is inevitable. It will happen in a response to many factors: new technology, new management, changing demands, a mistake or incident that highlights a problem, causes complaints and/or threatens image.Crucial to have a reason that people can accept and invest in.A whole new language has sprung up around justifying or ‘selling’ the benefits of change - Streamlined, responsive, flexible, seamless…The issue of what drives structural change is very important. Does it make sense? It impacts morale, co-operation, and even success so it is not sensible if it is change just for changes sake, to stamp a new managers or VC’s mark on the University or driven by vague statements like ‘it’ll make it more streamline, responsive, flexible’. Any other words you’ve heard? Change for changes-sake makes it hard to get staff excited. They tend to realise that budget cuts may be the real motivation, or it may be a change in direction for the University. It’s better said directly. It may not be liked but people respect the honesty and it gives them more time to adapt their thinking, expectations and plans. Slide 5: Exercise 1 – Circles of InfluenceTo be done individuallyLarge outer circle, smaller inner circleThink of a problem or change you are facing at home or work. List in outer circle all the things where you have little or no influenceList in inner circle all the things you can influence Underneath, list ways you can focus on the things you can affect and how you can do thatList the ways you can relax or accept the things you can’t changeThis sort of exercise has been around for decades but it is still very useful. It comes from Locus of Control theory.Think of the Serenity Prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr, an American pastor in the 1920’s or early 30’s. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.The exercise takes about 20-30 minutes and aims to get you to refocus from what is overwhelming and frustrating; to what you actually can do to help you feel more satisfied and effective. Hopefully, the inner circle grows to lessen the emotional impact of the outer one. Slide 6: Virginia SatirMore known for her work in Family Therapy, Virginia’s model of change is also relevant in institutional change. It is still managing people and their emotions, motivations and expectations through the change processIt acknowledges institutions [families or corporations] are people-made and run structures and are therefore vulnerable to their personalities, drives, motivations, coping mechanisms, strengths and weaknessesI find this model appealing as it acknowledges there is a period of uncertainty, chaos even, in change. Slide 7: Model of Change (after Satir)0-127000The midline of this graph represents the late status quo. There is some movement above and below the line as there may be dissatisfaction with the old status quo but no one leading change. A foreign element enters which could be a new manager, new VC or an incident that highlights poor functioning aspects of the old status quo. Performance drops. In the case of poor functioning, there is less likely to be resistance, but possibly arguments about what new system is adopted, or how the change occurs. In the former cases there may be many reasons for resistance – which include - personality clashes, mismatched expectations, questioning of why the change is needed, and the manner in which the process is being handled. These issues, if combined with lack of planning and/or poor communication can result in chaos and volatility. The longer these two periods continue the worse the impact on staff and the reduced likelihood of a successful outcome. Eventually a transforming idea will integrate into the system and move the whole process to a new status quo. The diagram shows a status quo with improved performance but it may actually be a new status quo with less performance.I have had training as an incident responder for a worldwide company that deals with the aftermath of disasters. The initial and ongoing training constantly tests your ability to deal with ambiguity. This is one of the most stressful things people have to deal with. You also need to be aware of your staff that are dealing with this change. Consider the stress of change for a person on the Autistic Spectrum – constant ambiguous messages with little or no rules to guide them. Anxiety, tiredness, loss of motivation, fear of making the wrong move so making no move… The real and serious impact of uncertainty, confusion, lack of instruction or leadership is debilitating over time for people and therefore organisations. Slide 8: How to Help at Each StageLate Status Quo: encourage people to seek concepts, improvement, information from outside the group. Resistance: help people to open up, become aware and overcome their natural reactions to deny, avoid or blameChaos: help build a safe environment that enables people to focus on their feelings, acknowledge their fear, and use their support systems. Encourage management avoid any attempt to short circuit this stage with magical solutions.Integration: offer reassurance and help finding new methods for coping with difficulties.New Status Quo: help people feel safe so they can do their jobs confidently.This are Steven Smith’s suggestions to address the issues raised at each stage. Point 1 helps make change more positive. It moves the change to be group initiated with staff encouraged to present their ideas and solutions. It prepares the group to deal positively with change. However, it is important to be honest. Allowing members of staff to spend valuable time researching improvements when senior management already has decided on a process is counter-productive.Giving an avenue for meaningful, honest discussion can lessen the likelihood of fear-based rumours, gossip and guessing about what is happening.Slide 9: Managing ChangeCommunication is crucial – the whys, rationale, method, outcome and impact need to be discussed openly. It empowers and includes people in the process so they have a stake in it working.Acknowledging the value of people and their work – before, during and after any change.Consultation that is meaningful and across all levels.Reasonable timeframe.Is the change team led [bottom up] or directed [top down]. Is feedback and suggestions possible? Sustainable change that is successful cannot happen if ‘people issues’ aren’t addressed – respect, communication, discussion, flexibility where possible.Unfortunately, when working, I’ve been given far more experience of how not to effect change than effective collaborative change! An example - One of my senior managers, a very popular and effective manager, spent an hour with a very high member of the Provost’s office before a major meeting. At the meeting the new management diagram was presented; my manager found out his job was not in it. He was being sacked. There was no warning. He was then tasked with overseeing the initial phases of the implementation. The restructure meant 600 members of staff were made redundant… and even more left in anger. It was only 3 years later they were forced to hire 900 people to replace them. They hadn’t taken into account the loss of knowledge so needed even more roles. They still did not consider the loyalty they had lost too. Consequently, we had another major restructure a short time later after a lengthy consultation period… with only senior management, of course. Under such situations can management really expect the workforce to embrace the changes? Change is fine. It is to be expected and, if handled well, with an understandable purpose, even welcomed.People tend to object to change that is unexpected, with unexplained rationale and forced through. This makes them feel unvalued. Thinking about timeframe – I worked with a rural faculty of 19 that had been told that there would be staff redundancies with only 11 positions left – they weren’t told of any criteria for assessing their jobs; how redundancies would take place; no timeframe and little rationale or intended outcome explained. I visited to give training in Mental Health First Aid 18 months after they had been continuing to work in this uncertainty: home purchases had been halted; pregnancy plans effected; new car purchases stopped – their lives were on hold and they were furious. The local management were drained and ‘broken’ trying to buffer the staff.Higher management was stunned and surprised at their lack of co-operation. The impact of powerlessness and knowledge that, however well you do your job, it may not matter – is counterproductive to ideas of a good outcome. Whoever would be retained in those 11 roles would be disillusioned about the organization and be far less loyal, far less likely to work after hours etc. Many education institutions depend on the good will of their disability professionals to dedicate themselves to their roles and to care about the outcomes for their students. Slide 10: Change versus TransformationAshkenas [2016] believes change and transformation are different.Change – discrete projects, finite interventions, goal driven. Currently done quite well by many companies.Transformation – many initiatives are interdependent or intersecting, no finite goal but a reinvention based on a vision for the future. Unpredictable and experimental. Leaders suddenly need new skills and still have their usual workload to do. Only 30% success.What is success? It can be a process of discovery and experimentation as much as executionThis is a really good point. You can have a few areas managing discrete changes very successfully but once these changes intersect, or affect the majority or all the organisation, it is transformation – a different animal. Managers are expected to undertake all that is needed, mostly on top of their usual workload. At my university there were major changes happening in a few areas:restructure and amalgamation of Student Centres, reduction of Disability Services, review of administrative services across the university, a change of direction of 2 major faculties plus other changesAll these changes intersected yet were considered separate events. This happened at the same time as a comprehensive review of staff support services which limited their ability to support the areas undergoing their changes. Most of the university was affected but senior management described this as no more than a few discrete small changes.Slide 11: Exercise 2 – Reactions to ChangeIn your group make a list of all the positive reactions you have seen to a recent change in your workplace – from all levels [individual, team, company]Make a second list of all the negative reactions you have seen to that recent change – from all levels but with focus on individual emotional onesDiscuss and write down what factors contributed to the different reactions – organisational, structural and personalLook at and discuss the differencesSlide 12: Exercise 3 – Managing the Impact of ChangeAs a group discuss and list ways a team leader and the team can handle the stress and ambiguity of change.If helpful, use a recent change – at your University or a wider change such as the change to online working or the restructure of a department.This is to give as many ideas and suggestions to all.Slide 13: ThoughtsAs Change is acknowledged to be the new ‘norm’, managers and team leaders need training in how to best handle their teams in times of change and how best to prepare them to deal with it. “Leadership when deviating from a dominant culture is very difficult” [Quinn and Quinn, 2016].Managing a team through significant change can’t just be added to the usual workload.If redundancies are planned, then open discussions on implications, options and career planning are needed to have space in the work diary. Help with updating CV’s, time off to attend interviews, time for team de-stressing or team building at regular intervals.A timeframe needs to be decided and people informed as soon as possible, good or bad news, so they can plan their lives accordingly.Slides 14-16: ReferencesAll websites accessed May 2017Sturt, D. & Nordstrom, T. (undated) 6 Do’s and Don’ts of Leading Through Change. Available from: WWW.. How To Manage Your Team Through Change: 18 Powerful Tips. Sravani@136. WWW. Managing People Through Change. 5 Essential Skills for Helping People Deal With Change Successfully WWW.Saltbox.co.uk 6 Ways to Deal Successfully With Change At Work WWW.Saltbox.co.uk Change Management Models. Mark Connelly Change-Management- 6 Ways to Guide Your Team Through Change Tim Hird, March 15, 2016. AMA [American Management Association] Playbook. playbook. 5 Ways Leaders Strengthen and Prepare Their Teams for Change. Glenn Llopis.The Satir Change Model. Smith S.M. (2000) Amplifying Your Effectiveness: Collected Essays. Dorset House PublishingQuinn, R.W. & Quinn, R.E. (2016) Change Management and Leadership Development Have to Mesh. Harvard Business Review. January 7, 2016.Leaders Are Getting Better at Change Management – But Not At Transformation. Ron Ashkenas, WWW. April 7, 2016 ................
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