Change Management Panel Discussion
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The change process experienced by the author at their university in South Africa in the 1980s saw the student population shift from 1% black students to 30% by the time they graduated, reflecting the end of apartheid. This brought immense change as black and white students lived together for the first time. There was no formal change management plan, but a shared vision and many conversations helped facilitate the transition. When managing change, it is important to consider the context and complexity of human systems. While plans can guide action, they need continual review based on feedback. People are more open to change when they help shape it and design how it will affect them, building ownership and new mental models to cope with the new environment.
Change Management Panel Discussion
- 1. Change ManagementReflections by Michael Randelwww.RandelConsultingAssociates.comPanel Discussion with cohort 14 class of the OD/KM program at George Mason UniversityFebruary 20, 2010
- 2. Q: What is an example of a change process that you have experienced?When I began my studies at the university of Natal in 1986, it had started admitted black students the year before (this was still against the law in racially segregated South Africa). The transformation I experienced was that of the university shifting from just 1% of the student body being black to 30% by the time I left the university 8 years later (and today, over 80% of the student population is black, reflecting the demographics of the country).This brought about an intense period of change for all aspects of the university. In a divided society, black and white students had never lived together before, and the university environs brought them together around the clock.No-one set out to have a change management plan for this process. But there was an overall commitment to a high-level vision for the university in a non-racial society, and thousands of staff and students became involved in hundreds of conversations and experiments to find ways to bring this about.
- 3. Q: Should change be incremental or stepped/specific initiatives?It is helpful to use the Cynefin* framework developed by Dave Snowden, and consider the context:Simple: cause and effect are clear; able to use best practicesComplicated: cause and effect requires analysis; able to use good practicesComplex: relationship between cause and effect can only be perceived in retrospect; we can sense emergent practiceChaotic: there is no relationship between cause and effect at the systems level; we can engage in novel practiceThe unfortunate reality is that too many change management strategies & plans operate as if the context is simple or complicated; and don’t take sufficient account of the complexity of human and social systems.
- 4. There is a place for plans for change, but they should serve at best as a guide to directions for action, and should be continually reviewed and updated to account for feedback at the systems level.* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin
- 5. Q: What contributes to the success of a change management project?A key component of any change initiative is to develop a compelling vision for the future that attracts people to work towards its achievement.We know from neuroscience* that our brains experience change as pain, that when we are confronted with a lot of new information, we tend to treat this as a threat, becoming defensive (or ‘resistant’ in business language). As we rely on the habituated responses in our basal ganglia for most processes, it can be very hard to engage people in being open to new ways of doing things.Research suggests that people will be more open to change processes if they are invited to give shape to the change. This helps reduce the fight/flight response in the amygdala, and by providing ways for people to design aspects of the change that affect them directly, aligned under the high-level vision for the future.
- 6. People then become engaged in designing and building their common future, while also building new neural pathways in their brains that take account of the changed environment within which they will be working.* An article describing how these concepts applies in the world of work is: http://www.cio.com/article/24975/Change_Management_Understanding_the_Science_of_Change