“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
— Henri Bergson —
In today’s business environment, change is a constant. Fortunately, individuals, teams, and organizations have a choice. You can choose to be controlled by and to be merely reactive to changes in the environment. Or you can choose to be proactive and manage the change process positively to maximize benefits and to reduce the negative impacts. Studies conducted about change and organizational life reveal sobering statistics. “Fewer than 20% of all change initiatives are really successful. More alarming still for top managers, a survey of 1,087 corporate directors reported in BusinessWeek, 31% of CEOs fired by their boards were removed because they mismanaged change; more than any other cause.”
From my experience, this is often related to a failure to pay attention to the human aspects of change. I was privileged to facilitate a program called “Navigating Through Change” for many Fortune 500 companies in the US and in Asia. I lived and breathed the metaphor of change and white-water rapids. What I observed was that many organizations view change management initiatives as a process to achieve some financial gains or goals for the organization. They view people as assets or resources that the organization owns or manages. At the most fundamental level, people ARE the organization and the organization is nothing but people. People manage the organization and not the other way around.
In other words, the problems are not “out there” but inside each one of us in terms of our thinking. We are not bad or wrong. Instead, we in the West have been trained in ineffective ways of thinking and relating through our schools, governmental, and religious institutions, through our families of origin, and so on. Within our organizations, we have spent many years learning how to systematize and control things and how to build hierarchies. Although we can tear down all the outdated hierarchies, they will reappear because no matter what we say at the behavioral level, we haven’t changed our beliefs about leadership and communication and personal power in the workplace.
Culture change starts with personal change. We become change agents by altering our own worldviews and recognizing the need to align and empower ourselves before successfully changing the organization. To create deep and sustainable change, we must go on the hero/heroines’ journey through uncertainty to find meaning and purpose.
Training and Tools for Change Management
We can assist you and your organization with training programs designed to help leaders engage people, raise morale, and change the corporate culture one leader at a time. Our approach inspires people to stop complaining and start collaborating. Workshops using our strategies for change management include the following topics:
- Understanding the nature of change in today’s global, cross-cultural, increasingly virtual, and internet-based world
- Recognizing the human reactions to change and developing the skills to address them
- Highlighting the role of communication in moving from fear to commitment
- Creating effective change management plans
- Leading change initiatives successfully
- Encouraging creativity and innovation throughout a change process
- Embedding ongoing support skills
Helping People Manage Personal and Work Stress
Today’s workplace demands high performance from everyone, but that fortunately no longer means putting work ahead of everything else. Today’s more dynamic, team-oriented organizations require flexible, creative, sustainable performance which can only be found with people who know how to design a life based upon conscious choices. No one today disputes the fact that stress, poorly managed, can lead to health, relationship, and financial problems to name a few.
There are many resources available today to increase personal and professional performance, fulfillment, and self-mastery. I have researched and personally experienced many transformational technologies that I recommend depending upon the unique needs of the individual, team, and organization I am serving.
One organization I recommend without hesitation is The Institute of HeartMath, an internationally recognized nonprofit research and education organization. HeartMath has been researching heart intelligence, stress and emotional management since 1991 and applies their findings to practical, easy-to-use tools that have been scientifically developed and tested. Check out their work at www.heartmath.org.
As an Executive Leadership and Life Coach, I encourage people to acknowledge their natural, normal reactions to change and where they are on the change curve. I ask people to identify their core values since remembering what matters most during stressful times is a quick way to shift one’s perceptions and physiology. Likewise, the people-whispering approach focuses on relationship-coping resources as the most effective and consistent way to respond positively to personal and professional change.
To learn more, connect with Laura A. Davis and Associates, your Everything DiSC and Five Behaviors Authorized Partner.
