In the final post in this series, I’m exploring how leaders might use HERO to help address resistance to change. Organisation change has sometimes had a bad rap over the years. Repeated research tells us that change projects and programmes often fail to deliver and one of the main reasons given is the resistance for employees to change.
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In many of the change programmes I’ve worked on, I’ve seen this resistance show up in different ways: people not engaging with the change at all (it’s something happening ‘over there’); poor or uncharacteristic behaviours (I’ve had people’s anger towards a change directed at me) and even undermining change by refusing to follow a new way of working, process or system.
As a result, much of the work I’ve been involved in over the years – either as a consultant or coach – has been focused on the question of, “how do we reduce resistance?” So, attention and effort has gone on ‘persuading’ people to change.
We’ve developed approaches to help leaders to shift their thinking and behaviours so they can help with this, developed training that could support, or spent time working out the best communication and engagement strategies to get people on board. A lot of work that sometimes still doesn’t get the results we want.
And this focus on resistance isn’t great for anyone’s wellbeing, never mind their productivity.
There is another way
Looking at people's wellbeing and strengths and giving as much focus to the HEROs in your change as you do the resistors, could help to support the shift you want to achieve.
In a recent post, I explored the HERO concept – it forms the four pillars of psychological capital (PsyCap), a concept which has grown from the field of positive psychology.
PsyCap has already been linked to improved job and life satisfaction and there’s evidence that employees with high PsyCap can support organisation change.
In PsyCap, HERO stands for:
• Hope
• Efficacy
• Resilience and
• Optimism
Research has shown that employees who flourish at work have greater PsyCap as well as being generally more positive - which could mean greater employee engagement. When we think about the impacts that organisation change can often have on employees – stress, anxiety and fear – a higher level of PsyCap developed ahead of change, could be invaluable in supporting them when things are uncertain.
Based on my own exploration of this area of research, here are four approaches you could consider in developing PsyCap to suport organisation change:
Think about how you can develop the different elements of HERO with your teams (ideally as part of business-as-usual and before change begins). For example, developing hope - ask people what they’re going to do, get them to set their own goals and working through how they’re going to deliver those goals (a mix of Hope and Self-Efficacy). How can they consider what options they might have if things get tough or things have to change (Resilience)?
Encourage people to reflect on what’s happened and what they’ve drawn on as they’ve gone through change – what have they been learning? This can help us understand how we’re learning from experience and what we can take forward to different experiences – again, developing greater hope through our own agency and motivation.
If you are focusing on people and helping them to have more of their own agency and be more empowered, get them involved in designing the change (rather than telling them what to do).
Be open and transparent in your communication. Clarity helps people understand the ‘why’ of change and what it means for them as well as helping them focus on what needs to be delivered. They’re less likely to be distracted or worried about the change.
To help people maintain performance and embrace the challenges that change can bring, thinking – and acting - more HERO and helping people develop their PsyCap could make a real difference.
If you are considering incorporating HERO in your change approaches, do let me know. I’d love to hear how you get on.