Keynote Naomi Karten (Author of Changing How You Manage and
Communicate Change) opened her discussion on “Embracing Change…”
by warning “There is a prerequisite for this session – It is only for people
who have experienced change.” She then advised
anyone who has not experienced change to stay after the session, so she could “introduce
them to someone who has experienced change.”
This witty way of emphasizing that change happens to everyone went over well
with the audience and made for a smooth transition into the real life example of
someone who had experienced an interesting change – a gentleman Karten met by the name
of Pete (or Project Pete as Karten called him).
Karten met Project Pete at a previous conference. She told how Project Pete went to work one day
and was told to “pack up” his area. He (and
the rest of his team) was being moved to another office in 24 hours. Karten described how this unexpected “jolt” to
Pete’s normal way of life threw him into chaos.
She went on to reference Project Pete throughout the discussion, in order
to tie how we experience change back to a real life scenario.
One point Karten emphasized is that session participants (as
project managers and business analysts) are often responsible for introducing “jolts”
into the lives of others – the same types of “jolts” that Pete experienced. BAs and PMs cause jolts by carrying out expected
tasks like offering ideas, introducing options, and trying to influence others. Since BAs and PMS are “possible sources of chaos”,
Karten stressed the importance of understanding how chaos is caused and how people
respond to it.
Understanding that successful BAs and PMs cannot completely
avoid introducing change (jolts), Karten shared some guidelines on how to best handle
such situations. A few of those guidelines
are listed below.
· Minimize
the compounding effects of chaos: If
you know someone is still dealing with the effects of another change, consider
adjusting the timing of the change you are preparing to introduce.
· Regularly
communicate the status of the change and its impact: Communicating the status of change builds
trust. However, be careful that you
don’t overdo it – Don’t communicate so much that you become a larger source of
stress than the change itself.
· Give
people a say about the change: In many
cases you will not be able to eliminate the change altogether. However, if you have areas where you can give
them some say on how to carry out the change – do so.
· Recognize
the power of listening and empathy as change management tools: Sometimes having someone to just listen makes
it a little easier for those involved to handle change.
· Absolutely,
positively, do not put down the old way: Putting down the old way of doing something may
offend those involved, because people often find a sense of security in the old
way.
· Don’t Mollycoddle:
Don’t spoil, overprotect, cosset, humor, pander, overindulge, or baby those who
have to endure the change. Listening and empathy are important (as noted above),
but don’t overdo it.
· Don’t
forget that there is chaos involved with change: Change is naturally messy. Understand that those involved with change are
experiencing some degree of chaos. Accordingly,
they may not respond to things in a logical or rational way for a period of time.
· Build trust: Before introducing change for others, build
trust.
Karten also touched on how participants personally should handle
change. She emphasized that when going through
a change personally, it is important to recognize when you are in a state of chaos,
as well as be able to resist the urge to make decisions that have permanent results.
Overall, session participants seemed to take away the importance
of considering the impact of change on those going through it (others like Pete
- as well as themselves).
Belinda Henderson,
CBAP, PSM
Senior Consultant and Business Analysis Blogger, Cardinal Solutions GroupGuest Blogger, 2013 Project World & World Congress for Business Analysts
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