Supercharging your Innovation Capabilities

Have you ever tried to build an innovative organization, or wondered how to make innovation happen? If so, you’ll know it’s difficult because innovation is about releasing the potential in your leaders and teams. Unlike traditional management, the role of the innovation-driven leader is not to set the vision and motivate others to follow it. Instead, it’s to create a community willing and able to innovate. The challenge is to build an organization capable of innovating again and again.

INNOVATION versus INVENTION

Innovation is the introduction of something new or a better way of doing something that adds value. It is generally linked to positive changes in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitiveness, and market share. It differs from invention in that it uses a better but not necessarily new process, device, or method to generate novel ideas or processes with social impact, life-changing advances, and economic value. An invention, on the other hand, is a unique novel device, method, composition, or process. It is the creation of something that has never been made before and is recognized as the product of unique insight which extends the boundaries of human knowledge, experiences or capabilities.

INNOVATION ENABLERS

Case studies confirm that an organization’s persistent dedication to innovation is what sets great companies apart. Findings also point to the complementary role of organizational culture and key enablers facilitating innovative thoughts into actions that improve organizational performance and gain market competitiveness. The following are some key enablers of innovation:

Innovation Driven Leadership Within an innovating system, innovation driven leaders provide a source of inspiration that produces energy for seeking a challenging, exploring, and risk-taking. They also reinforce the right behaviors and correct the wrong one in their teams. They ensure that individuals at all levels are able to work effectively as a team member within and across functions. Innovation-driven leaders understand the innovative thinking methodology, how an innovating ecosystem works, and how to correct elements of their organization and culture that do not effectively support innovation. Such leaders expand and sustain organizational innovation capacity by drawing out the genius in each person and assemble them into innovations that represent a collective product. Most critically, innovation nurturing behaviors, build trust, and open communication, are comfortable taking risks and provide a sense of protection, safety and care.

Organizational Culture And ValuesAn organization’s culture is the combination of spoken and unspoken rules that define how members should behave to be successful. Some of the most important elements of culture that support innovation include trust, open communication, openness to and respect for people’s ideas, teamwork across functions, risk tolerance, technology support, recognition, and diversity of thinking styles and backgrounds. Research shows culture enables people to innovate. An innovative culture defines identity and market, and encourages the workforce to ask questions, share ideas, and engage in dialogue. It strengthens an organization’s capability to collaborate and encourages research and experimentation through quick pursuit, evaluation, creative resolution, and adjustments. Innovative culture also captures commitment and ensures organizational health, standards, stability, and adaptability.

Collective Identity Members of innovative organizations generally have the skills that allow them to accomplish their role in their innovating systems. In such systems, interactions among members are critical for turning an idea into a process, product, and/or service. Everyone applies innovative thinking to solve complex business problems they face. As a collective, they are a community with a focused innovation strategy and a purpose for why the group exists. Purpose makes people willing to take risks and do the hard work inherent in innovation. As each team member applies innovative thinking to solve complex business problems faced by the organization, they not only contribute to the organization’s identity but also build the organization’s framework for innovation. Hence, being a member of such an organization confirms purpose and creates meaning for work.

People, Willingness, And Ability If you’re trying to build an innovative organization, you must first understand only individuals and teams innovate. Willingness among organizational members to innovate is necessary but not sufficient for innovation to flourish if the ability to do so is not there. Organizational culture is a critical foundation for innovation and people’s willingness to innovate. However, organizations, cultures, technology, and processes as independent entities do not innovate. They support, facilitate or inhibit the people who desire to innovate. Hence, it is critical for organizations to train their people to innovate, think about how to create value for customers, and understand that an organization’s future depends on innovation.

Preparedness Innovation doesn’t come from organized plans. It comes from stakeholders’ preparedness to address challenges and problems. Training and development are thus fundamental to ensuring that leaders, managers, and individuals have the knowledge and skills necessary to innovate in the right place and at the right time. To prepare and transform one self and others into creatively-innovating individuals, one needs to reduce individual innovation constraints by

Asking, watching, experimenting, learning, and trying
Treating idea generation as an exploration, not just a search
Learning to reformulate problems through problem-framing and problem-solving strategies.
Networking and answering four very basic human centered design questions: “What is?” “What if?” “What wows?” “What works?”
Accepting ambiguity and becoming risk tolerant

Organizational Agility Finally, agility is key in people-centric, innovative organizations. Simplified operations and an agile workforce are critical to an innovative ecosystem. Being an innovative organization requires well-thought-out organizational practices and strategies that stretch beyond just challenging the status quo and creating value. The entire organization, including the executives, human resources, finance, training and development, and information technology must be agile for it to become a forerunner of innovation in its industry.

Now that you know what it takes to foster an innovative organization, you’re ready to start planting and nurturing innovation enablers without worrying about where to begin or how to build an innovative organization.

Millennials In the Workplace: Not So Different After All

The millennial generation, unlike any before it, is receiving an unprecedented amount of media attention given the growing awareness that they will increasingly comprise a significant portion of the workforce over the next five to ten years. Despite the growing research touting how the generations are different and should be treated differently, have you ever wondered if they really are? If so, the results of the 2014 Millennial Impact Report by Achieve may help to shed some light because it highlights the attitudes about work culture, relationships and resources and their role across the work lifecycle (from hire to retention).

However, if you have been reading the research on employee engagement or have read some recent bestselling business books, then you may have noticed that the so-called millennial differences are perhaps not so unique after all. We venture a little further in our hypothesis by proposing that the changes we are seeing are more a function of the now changed psychological contract between employers and employees.

Gone are the days of climbing the corporate ladder on your way to a golden handshake. In their absence, today’s employees want continuous learning as a way to secure their futures. They are spending long hours at work with recent data from the Federal Reserve Economic Data Report (2013) confirming that Americans work more hours a week than any other industrialized nation. So while employees have come to accept that technology can blur the boundaries between personal life and work, they have also realized the value of meaningful relationships in the workplace as well as the importance of work that helps to make the world a better place.

Furthermore, it is no coincidence that both of these factors probably also make the work itself and the continuous demands on their personal time a lot more tolerable or enjoyable. In other words, building deep relationships and contributing to “cause work” is likely a buffer against the stressors that might normally lead to decreased engagement, burnout or quitting a job.

Let’s begin by taking a look at the idea of cause work and how the Achieve report says it plays an important role in hiring, retention and shaping culture. We believe all of this to be true. In addition, we propose that this is not a new idea. In his book Drive, Daniel Pink (2009) wrote about what he called the surprising truth about what motivates us. He explains that we are all motivated intrinsically toward autonomy, mastery and purpose. He further explains that “our deep-seated desire to direct our own lives, to extend and expand our abilities” is the new key to high performance.

Similarly, Sirota (2005) in The Enthusiastic Employee introduced the Three Factor Theory of Employee Engagement, which describes the need for Equity, Achievement and Camaraderie in order to improve and maintain positive employee engagement. Specifically, the Achievement factor in his theory speaks to the need to take pride in one’s accomplishments by doing things that matter and doing them well. Even Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter as early as 1997 were writing about the importance of “meaningful and valued work” in The Truth About Burnout as a means to improve engagement and reduce stress.

An additional finding from the Millennial Impact Report indicates that employees prefer to work with fellow employees as part of this cause work, which likely has an impact on engagement and decreases turnover. This echoes similar ideas proposed by Sirota (2005) who spoke of camaraderie, Pink (2009) who focused on “communities being unified around a common purpose” and Maslach and Leiter (1997) who discussed “a sense of community.”

The bottom line is that we are not disagreeing that these are all important variables but that to say that they are strictly engagement indicators for the millennial generation might be a missed opportunity in that Benko and Anderson (2010) in The Corporate Lattice speak to an oncoming convergence of needs between the generations. And, indeed most of the research on engagement also echoes many of the other key findings of the Millennial Impact Report.

In conclusion, the 2014 Millennial Impact Report adds great depth to our knowledge of what makes Millennial employees tick; however, we think it is an error to assume that it describes only the Millennial generation and believe this data is actually applicable across the spectrum to all employees signifying additional data in a shift in the psychological contract between employers and employees. Furthermore, we think this topic is only beginning to be understood and requires additional study in order to understand its long-term implications for how we work and live.

This article was first published in the APA Center for Organizational Excellence: Good Company Newsletter (August, 2014).

How Do You Make Business More Human?

In today’s market, disruption of established business models lurks around every corner. That makes delivering a quality customer experience ― one that helps insulate a business from competitive threats and total disruption― bottom-line critical. As David Cooperstein, a digital marketing and strategy authority at Forrester, says, “The only sustainable competitive advantage is knowledge of and engagement with customers.” As your customers become more connected and empowered, and traditional sources of competitive dominance wane, a holistic approach to customer experience is mission critical. But how do you achieve this?

I head up a Customer Experience Insights team for Wells Fargo Wholesale Banking – a group that serves big corporations, middle-market businesses, governments, and institutions with annual revenues of $20 million and more. Our Insights group is a hybrid of quantitative data analysts and qualitative design researchers. We integrate left- and right–brain approaches to provide insights into our customer’s goals, behaviors, and tasks. Yet we do more than churn out insights: We make our customers’ organizations more human by developing capabilities to thrive in a world exploding with change.

These capabilities ― embracing a holistic mindset, creating shared understanding, and engaging in design-oriented problem solving ― are about seeing the whole, aligning the diverse perspectives, and visualizing the future. These elements are crucial to building human-centered organizations for today’s networked world.

Embracing a Holistic Mindset

Most businesses have an industrial-era hangover ― a mechanistic mindset that breaks functions, departments, and processes down into smaller parts to control complexity and maximize efficiency. This approach works best in stable, routine, predictable environments. We are no longer living in that world.

Organizations create positive customer experiences by aligning an organization’s strategy, technology, and execution process with customer expectations. A holistic mindset is critical to understanding both how things work and the underlying dynamics of why things work. Customer journey mapping, as my Insights team calls it, illuminates the particulars of the experience – its steps, phases, touchpoints, pain points, moments of delight, emotional experience – and its scope beyond the moment when the product or service overlaps with the customer’s life. Based on a synthesis of what people do, say, and feel, these customer journey maps reveal that the total customer experience is more than the sum of individual processes strung together across departments.

To differentiate on customer experience, organizations need both insight into the entire customer lifecycle and help connecting the dots between siloed organizational departments. Researchers tasked with mapping the customer’s journey find themselves leading organizational change just by bringing separate departments together to think about the end-to-end life cycle.

Transformation to a holistic customer experience approach begins as the business reconciles its own internally held assumptions – embedded in its strategies, processes, and structure – with how customers experience results. What does it all add up to? What’s in and out of alignment with intentions? Where is friction in the system? Where are the opportunities?

Creating Shared Understanding

The nature of work today is multifunctional – it takes product managers, designers, technologists and others to bring digital products to market. These teams come together to execute simple solutions for customers amid complexity, and each function represents a diverse viewpoint and focus that must be discussed, understood, and reconciled for alignment and collaboration to occur.

Being customer-centric invites and necessitates multifunctional conversations. Since the customer’s experience inevitably traverses organizational siloes and functional area boundaries, research initiatives tend to catalyze cross-group collaboration and become platforms where alignment conversations take place. Through dialogue, teams articulate answers to questions that are central to creating a holistic customer experience, such as “What problems are we trying to solve? Why? What will be easy? What will be harder?”

Customer insights are most powerful in helping organizations learn and innovate when the what of lived experience combines and calibrates with the how of meeting business goals.

Engaging in Design-oriented Problem Solving

The power shift from business to people signals a need for organizations and their teams to transform how they work together and create value. User-centered design (UCD) is a product development process that supports customer centricity by incorporating iterative end-user feedback throughout the entire product life cycle.

The rise of UCD practices acknowledges that products and services need to work well for people who use them. In an experience-driven economy, UCD mitigates risk of an unsuccessful product by getting noise out of the system earlier. Design-oriented problem–solving is about recognizing that the future can’t be proven in advance. The only way to get to a successful solution is to prototype, gather feedback from real people, and refine.

The Power of Customer Insights

To achieve Cooperstein’s vision sustainable competitive advantage ― knowledge of and engagement with customers ― companies must implement a holistic approach to customer experience. But this doesn’t just happen. It needs the customer’s voice to be heard companywide. That’s the role of Wells Fargo’s Customer Insights teams. As businesses, we can and should do so much more than collect data about people. We can catalyze our organizations to better understand the humans we serve, and in the process, make our businesses more human.

Employee Engagement – Beyond the Golden Rule

Understanding Engagement

The dictionary describes engagement as “the act of engaging or state of being engaged,” but the term is much more complicated in reality. Experts do not agree on what it means in the workplace, or how to achieve it. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, to be sure, but success can be achieved if one understands the currencies of engagement and moves beyond the

Golden Rule to the Platinum Rule.

Some define employee engagement as a state of mind where one feels satisfied, empowered and committed at work. Others suggest it is characterized by such behaviors as persistence and initiative. Still others describe it as innate personal characteristics, like the right attitude, level of energy or point of view. Some define engagement as a combination of all of these. But, confusion over definition cannot distract from the importance of engagement. There is widespread agreement that an engaged workforce leads to higher retention and productivity, lower stress, better customer satisfaction and ultimately results. The cost of not addressing engagement is tremendous. A 2013 Gallup report showed that 70 percent of workers are not engaged or actively disengaged, placing the annual estimated loss in U.S. business productivity at $450-$550 billion.

With so many models for how to improve engagement, which is the best one? Unfortunately, there is no one model for optimizing engagement because not all individuals or organizations are alike.

The 12 Currencies of Engagement

People are like nations—that is, they will accept some currencies, but not others. Even so, some currencies are universally accepted. Examining a cross section of the most popular and researched models shows 12 factors most consistently reported to correlate highly with engagement:

Engaged leaders and managers and an organizational culture that is nurtured at the top levels.
Trusted leadership developed by honoring commitments and doing what is right.
Timely, honest and consistent two-way communication.
Amiable relationships with immediate supervisors.
Respectful, collegial relationships with coworkers who do great work.
Fairness in compensation, workload and negotiations.
Pride in an organization’s mission, products or accomplishments.
Appropriate and challenging opportunities for learning and career growth.
Rewards or recognition for achievements, however small.
Ability to influence decisions and have some control over the way one’s work is done, scheduled and managed.
Flexibility in work location or methods, among others.
Accommodation of personal needs.

This list reflects the most powerful currencies for inspiring engagement. But how do you know which currency or combination of currencies will be most effective? By knowing your audience.

Moving from Gold to Platinum

When it comes to culture and engagement, most thinking stems from the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is a good start, but there is a better way. Leaders must strive for the Platinum Rule: “Do unto others as they would like done unto them.” In other words, don’t assume others want what you want. Treat them the way they prefer to be treated.

In applying the Platinum Rule, we need to embrace the fact that engagement is personal, must be customized and is an ongoing, iterative process highly influenced by fluid dynamics between leaders and followers. This leaves many leaders wondering if it is possible, or realistic, to achieve it. The answer is yes, if leaders prioritize and invest time in relationships and building leadership capabilities.

To build leadership capabilities, consider using Emotional Intelligence as the foundation. Leaders who understand themselves and regulate their own behavior generally are more attuned to what is happening with their people. Ultimately, the leader’s ability to consistently deliver the right currency at the right time determines his or her effectiveness at engagement.

The Platinum Rule begins with active listening. Effective leaders notice that their people constantly communicate their desires through words and deeds. They become attuned to the currencies used by their direct reports and quickly gain insight into how best to engage and keep them motivated. This is where the Golden Rule provides a useful signpost; they probably behave toward others the way they wish to be treated. This method of assessing needs and wants also works up and across the chain of command.

Another approach, so simple that it is often overlooked, is asking people directly. In 2005, Sirota coined the term, “stay interview” to describe an ongoing, informal dialogue where one seeks feedback on the reasons why employees stay, matters that are going well or not and one’s performance as a leader. The goal is to stay connected. The 12 engagement factors can help, but it is essential to recognize that leadership behaviors are meant to drive and shape organizational culture.

Everything a leader does and says, consciously or unconsciously, models what is acceptable or unacceptable. It influences the choices one makes regarding strategy, structure, polices, procedures and their hiring and reward decisions. In short, employee engagement is not a one-shot effort to check off. It is a concerted effort to develop a partnering culture. Once you have learned what currency people want, you need to identify how frequently they want it.

An investment in your people will not go unrewarded. If nothing else, time spent getting to know them will communicate one’s genuine interest in them as fellow human beings, which itself goes a long way toward developing engagement.

Human Resources (HR): It’s Time To Be a Strategic Partner

In today’s global economy there is an urgency to re-skill HR and develop high-impact HR professionals who are savvy business consultants and experts in HR practices and disciplines. With advances in technology and availability of outsourcing and shared services centers, transactional HR work can be performed more efficiently so that HR can devote time to adding value inside the business. However, getting some HR professionals out of their comfort zone (transactional work) will require more than an effort to divorce them from familiar work. They will need to expand their critical thinking skills and gain a thorough understanding of the organization’s business, its strategies, the culture of the workforce, and the required leadership competencies that will differentiate it from the competition.

ROLE OF AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGIC BUSINESS PARTNER

Progressive companies with transformed HR departments are filled with specialists who are strategic consultants and HR experts. They understand assessment, coaching, recruiting, succession planning, data analytics, I/O psychology, organization development, training, and technology. These experts are the architects of the corporate talent system and work to strategically align talent management with organizational performance. They understand workforce demographics and global culture; innovation; and strategies in recruiting, learning, social networking, and analytics. They design new models for coaching, talent mobility, and performance management specific for business success. Also, they know how the business works, makes money, and builds its competitive advantage. Business leaders and employees trust them to solve organizational performance problems and make complex human capital (HC) management decisions that are often highly uncertain and context specific.

COMPETENCIES THAT ARE NEEDED

To be valued as an effective “strategic” business partner, HR must:

understand the business impact by asking the right questions to support business results;
be an organizational designer who comprehends the way the business is managed and aligns customer needs, business strategy, and organizational objectives, processes, systems and structures;
know the flow of revenue;
work with managers in talent management, employee engagement, and diversity;
guide executives in leadership development and succession planning;
think and act as performance advisors to the business;
use evidence-based workforce analytics to close gaps between talent and business strategy;
turn HR data into business metrics linked with positive market performance for business decision making and predictions; and
be an effective systems thinker who would know whether a business strategy can be implemented.

Also, in order to release human potential, empower leaders to challenge the status quo, imagine the future, and leverage efficiency to achieve greater effectiveness, HR must be skilled at:

Strategic visioning and imagination;
Proactive questioning and active listening;
Creative problem solving;
Agility and speed;
Resilience;
Engagement and collaborations with peers from multiple cultures;
Cross-cultural employee engagement;
Mastery of advances in technology and analytics;
Data-based decision making; and
The art of storytelling.

CRITICAL ROLE OF THE CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER (CHRO)

While the role of CHROs once centered on stewardship for essential administrative HR functions, it is now transforming into a role of chief strategist. Today’s CHROs have multidimensional responsibilities, from regulatory compliance and corporate governance overseers to organizational strategists and enterprise business leaders. CHROs are much more involved in shaping the business strategy, not just supporting and implementing it. They possess skills and competencies that extend beyond HR, and demonstrate an understanding of the entire business. They are positioned as C-level strategic business partners who contribute to business strategy, translate enterprise strategy into global workforce requirements, forecast talent needs, address talent gaps, and orchestrate learning skills and career development. CHROs typically report to the chief executive officer or the chief operations officer, and HR directors may report to them. Since they typically direct HR functions, they play a critical role to the successful transformation of HR being an effective strategic business partner.

The CHRO must run basic HR well first before HR can help senior executives develop and reinforce the behaviors that drive business success. This means hiring, onboarding, training, payroll, labor relations, benefits, and all of the other administrative functions must be efficient, effective, and compliant. Second, the CHRO must deliver a talent view into the future and prepare the business for future skills gaps, labor market opportunities, and impacts of potential mergers and acquisitions. Third, the CHRO is the keeper of culture and must monitor the organization’s health, providing feedback and offering advice to the chief executive and the executive team when things have change. Finally, since the challenges and solutions now available in HR span the entire business and have the potential to create significant competitive advantage, the CHRO must continuously up-skill the HR team and grow their confidence as strategic business consultants. This means ensuring the HR team is skilled in the power of talent analytics, decision science, and changing technologies for business operations. In addition, it means supporting innovation and creativity so that high-impact HR tools, programs and practices are developed, tested, and implemented to ensure future business success.

In a transformed HR environment, the CHRO is the chief HR and people officer, change officer, and culture officer. CHROs are themselves tightly aligned with the business and will push for innovative HR solutions that are company-specific. They use unique programs to leverage the business’s unique culture, business strategy, workforce demographics, and people strategy. Under their leadership, HR aligns HC strategies with business strategies, develops capabilities to deliver organization informatics using HR data, focuses on workforce effectiveness, and makes talent management a real priority.

Resistance is Futile: NOT!

“Lower your shields and surrender the ships…Resistance is futile,” the Borg commanded captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: First Contact. But is resistance really futile? Why did captain Picard resist? Was it the abrasive command and control approach of the Borg or was Picard standing up for something greater, like his values and way of life? Power, technology, money and pure brawn can sometimes force a change but they can’t win you the hearts and minds essential to creating sustainable change in organizations. Leaders must become adept at addressing and defusing resistance in all its forms.

Resistance in organizations is not just a heart-and-mind issue. It’s alsoan issue of bottom-line, dollars and cents. The cost of resistance is huge and cumulative and includes the obvious – time, money and increased attrition – as well as more hidden, human-toll costs, such as morale, career derailment, and stress-related employee health conditions. One thing is certain, navigating change without engaging the hearts and minds of your people can produce nothing greater than an army of compliant soldiers who exert just enough effort to stay under the radar, and at worst an army of saboteurs. This article will help you get from resistance to commitment.

No person, organization, or entity is immune to change or resistance. The press is littered with high profile stories, both personal and industrial, like the many failed attempts by Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston or the foiled attempts of behemoth organizations attempting to forge a new path like Daimler/Chrysler, Hewlett Packard/Compaq, and the still embattled Health Care Reform Act. These are all great examples of change gone awry reminding us that resistance can derail or slow any initiative and that the inability to change can lead to catastrophe failures. The real lesson here however is that change is part of life and resistance is a universal norm. Still, one has to wonder, why some changes are sustained while others fail?

WHAT IS RESISTANCE?

A quick search on the Internet to define “resistance”, yielded many interesting responses, from the classical Freudian definition about clients blocking memories to electrical references about a conductor opposing the flow of energy. For this article, I propose the following definition:

“What an individual or group of individuals might say or not say,

do or not do, when they do not embrace a proposed new way of

doing things or the methods used to implement them.”

This definition highlights the many potential permutations of resistance, but does little to help us understand its biological or psychological underpinnings.

The Brain

During periods of change, we are all particularly vulnerable to strong emotions. The cause of these can be attributed to an evolutionary survival mechanism that originates in the autonomic nervous system and more specifically in the sympathetic nervous system which mobilizes our bodies to “fight” or “take flight” when we experience even remotely threating stimuli like the idea of change or loss. Historically this mechanism has served us well in physically dangerous situations. But, in today’s modern society the threats we face are more likely to be change and the subsequent fear of the unknown that it can bring versus threats to our physical safety. Consequently, this mechanism can seem outdated or even obsolete because it’s not appropriate to “fight” or even “run away” from a colleague who verbally or emotionally pushes us out of our comfort zones, even if these are the only two options that our survival mechanisms afford us.

What is essential to this discussion however is the fact that this Acute Stress Response (aka Fright, Fight of Flight Response) is hardwired to bypass the thinking and rational parts of our brain (neo-cortex) causing us to react in ways that seem completely at odds with effective outcomes and our general modus operandi. While examples of fighting or abandoning the workplace are altogether rarely seen, variations on fighting (like yelling and assuming a posture of dominance) are commonplace. A modern form of escape may be to go silent, disengage, or completely check out allowing someone else to take the hot seat or limelight.

Many Permutations

The definition and basic biology covered above are offered as a simple explanation for the many permutations of resistance. It can be overt or covert, passive or active, conscious or unconscious. Examples of overt passive resistance include a work slow-down, missed deadlines, or not following through on agreements while covert passive resistance includes quietly disengaging from a person, process or discussion. I have also encountered people who just, “go along to get along.” The aim of passive resistance is to avoid direct conflict (i.e., taking flight). In contrast, overt active resistance is easy to identify because it’s aggressive, loud and often results in visible acts of defiance and/orarguing. Covert active resistance, on the other hand, is skillfully disguised by its perpetrators who seek to appear as if not resisting while actively engaging in various forms of sabotage including gossip and badmouthing. Lastly, unconscious resistance can be defined as those behaviors or words that seep because our thinking and rational brain have been hijacked cueing us to the fact that underlying emotions want to be acknowledged or expressed.

WHAT CAUSES RESISTANCE?

Common wisdom would have us believe we’re born severely allergic to,or at least uncomfortable with, change. However, every day we see plenty of evidence to the contrary. Couples get married, children are born, people die, families move houses, traffic detours are encountered, and spontaneity seems to be embraced without much fanfare, drama, stress, or collateral damage. The truth is that while there may be some people who really hate change, for the most part as a species we’re all far better at accepting it than folklore might have us believe. One might even argue that our survival as a species is a testament to our innate abilities to adapt. If this is true, and it isn’t the actual change itself that causes resistance, what does?

Perceived Loss

The list of potential factors causing resistance may be quite long. However, the pioneering research of the late Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969) into death and dying led us to understand that all change is fundamentally an emotional process related to loss. Even today, most if not all models explaining organizational change can be linked back to her 5 stages of grief (shock, denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance). More recently, Ronald A. Heifetz (2009), author of “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership”, affirmed this notion when he stated that people resist loss – not change.

Other Causes of Resistance

As stated above, there are potentially countless causes to resistance during change initiatives. I have highlighted several important ones above because they seem to underpin many of the others I have encountered. However, given the many personal factors that can influence a change process, I have decided to share some of the more common reasons identified by former clients:

No compelling rationale or vision for the change
Fear that change means loss of job/security.
Lack of opportunities for input or involvement.
Potential loss of identity/status (i.e., expert, or leader/ power, or freedom, and, etc.).
Lack of training or skills development.
Change fatigue (physical, and/or mental).
Confusion about priorities.
Lack of bandwidth to fully commit (time, energy, people, or money).
Feelings of loss related to old habits, relationships, or processes.
History of bad experiences with change (recent and/or related to personal history).

While this list is not exhaustive, it’s important to note that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for managing resistance. How you manage someone who genuinely hates change itself needs to be different from how you respond to someone who expresses different albeit related concerns. But, you can’t know what’s required if you assume all resistance is the same.

HOW TO PREVENT, MINIMIZE AND/OR MANAGE RESISTANCE EFFECTIVELY?

The methods for preventing, minimizing and managing resistance are as varied as the underlying causes. While we need to address each person’s concerns individually, there are many opportunities throughout the change process to improve engagement on both a visceral and intellectual level.

Involvement

Perhaps the most effective way to minimize resistance and create an environment where employees take responsibility for change is to involve them early on. Having stakeholders define a problem ensures ownership and helps them to fully understand the compelling rationale and urgency of your initiative. Unfortunately many change initiatives tend to be top down. While this seems expedient, it often creates a “disconnect” between the layers of your organization and can slow or even cause initiatives to fail. Although, it isn’t cost effective to broadly engage all potential stakeholders, any effort to include your various constituencies is helpful. Over time they become the evangelist who yield influence throughout your organization creating the critical mass that drives success.

If your decision for change is top down,creating opportunities for stakeholders to influence the plan (how) and timeline (when) will help them to recapture some control over their immediate circumstances. This will reduce their feelings of being victimized and instead help them to feel respected, trusted and valued. The goal is to create ownership at every level and to transform passive observers into active change agents.

Information and Communication

During transformations, information is key, and it’s important that it be timely and consistent. In the absence of sound information people connect the dots to create their own narrative. This leads to rumors that can be wildly inaccurate and hard to control. Information is especially important when stakeholders have not been involved in defining a change process. People need to understand the rationale on both a logical and emotional level. The more compelling and specific a vision, the more actionable it will be.

Take care to use all mediums of communication, as people respond differently to different methods. Consider the marketing rule of thumb, which says that individuals need to hear a message 7 times before it sinks in and prompts action. It is not uncommon to hear leaders say, “But I had an all hands meeting and they still complain that we’re not communicating.” Communication is not a speech and needs to be a two-way iterative process where ideas are shared and considered. While agreement and action on every issue raised is never possible, ensuring that people feel understood and respected needs to be the goal.

Active Listening and Empathy

Sometimes, despite our best efforts it’s just not possible to prevent resistance. In those instances, active listening and empathy are the preferred tools for deescalating anger and responding to feelings of loss. This will also provide you opportunities to learn from people on the ground how best to tweak a process to optimize positive impact. An environment where employees feel heard, understood and respected even when parties disagree is far more motivating than one where none of these basics are met. Change leaders need to check their own defensiveness when encountering resistance. Defensiveness only drives resistance underground making it much harder to manage. Providing employees a fair hearing and responding with empathy may not solve all their issues but is surprisingly effective at helping them to engage appropriately.

Clear Direction

Once you’ve met the need for a compelling rationale and a clear vision, people going through a change process require clear direction that is actionable and manageable. “Take the hill” or “implement the new ERP system” may be too overwhelming and does not identify the specific actions required to move forward successfully. When implementing “big hairy goals”, chunking them into smaller nuggets can help to build confidence, and give those working on the front lines a way to measure and celebrate their progress. Engagement will be easier and commitment greater if we work to remove all ambiguity from the change process by establishing clear timelines, organizational structures (reporting lines), processes, roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities.

Acknowledgement and Encouragement

It’s not uncommon for change leaders to focus disproportionately on the few who are being disruptive and inadvertently forget to acknowledge the brave efforts of the majority. Watering every action that continues to move your effort forward, even if it misses the mark is essential. Given the temporary loss of control, morale, and confidence that some experience during transitions, your words of encouragement will be helpful. Remember that any movement toward you goal is positive movement. If you do not water the seeds of change, then they will never blossom into flowers.

CAPTAIN’S FINAL LOG

While creating commitment during organizational change is no small feat, it’s within our reach, if we remember that resistance while sometimes costly is normal and not always bad. In fact, it can be quite helpful by highlighting opportunities for improving your plan, process or employee engagement. How we implement change and respond to resistance can either help or hinder our effort. Like Picard, our teams do not resist out of hubris but because they fear losing values or beliefs that they genuinely care about. What research and experience has taught us is that early inclusion is key. Timely and consistent communications, a fair hearing, clear direction, and a healthy dose of acknowledgement, not only reduce resistance but also foster an environment where teams can “Engage!”