Leading uncertainty as a new reality unfolds.

I have frequently used ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus’ phrase – ‘the only constant is change’ - when leading others and personally managing the flux we often find ourselves going through.

From those moments of sheer joy that comes from pleasant surprises to a nagging fear or sudden anxiety rush of being confronted with an imposed change. Many times have I had to readjust and prepare for a new reality. Observing and discussing these change experiences with colleagues over the years, I have come to realise several key constants that have really helped me understand what is happening and how to continue to facilitate others through those moments of uncertainty. 

Planning for large scale organisational reform programme, I looked back on my own experiences, identifying what worked and what had been most damaging in previous change programmes. I  started to critically review the process, realising there is a cyclical nature and patterns I wanted to explore further.  Reading change theories and seeking new insights, I recognised how uncertainty and a human need for stability are often at odds, not take into consideration, leaving change theories clean and formulaic. What was missing was how modernity recognises a variety of interpretations of what is considered well led and well managed, which was not being discussed or recognised. 

Few change models fail to reveal how to lead and facilitate change, with a mindset to ensuring those involved can remain energized and motivated for transformation, including challenging people’s preferred strategies for  sustaining resilience alongside the peaks and troughs of any reform process. 

Harvard University Professor Christensen and colleagues wrote about disruption, which was adopted by many health and care systems in understanding the need to disrupt tradition as a deliberate approach to adopting change. Yet, the impact and consequences of disruption on the wellbeing of those who work in a disrupted workplace were not being taken into consideration, particularly when fiscal demands were fuelling fast paced changes. Disruption, can be used deliberately disrupt, through for example introducing  standing meetings, asking teams to change localities  is a deliberate disruption strategy. However, what I am more interested in is the notion of agitation.  You need to agitate milk in order to make cheese or butter, which is a great example of transformation.  

I  want to consider the intent behind change. For me, intent is about how best to enable people to transform, at their pace, alongside any organizational structures and processes. Or in  how to support people to understand the process of change, accepting that often change comes at us left of field. Also, how to recognize that even a chance encounter, a critical conversation, can help capture an idea, using that to spark new initiatives, or validate a longer term collaboration, all of which can begin a transformation that opens up options and doors for career opportunities and new possibilities.

So here are some of the lessons I have learned which might help with addressing the anxieties and challenges of change:

1: When leading or managing a change, take time to seek external perceptions of what might become an all too familiar scenario or setting. 

I was working with a small group of practitioners and progressing only slowly until one day, colleagues from another organisation came to deliver a workshop.  They outlined their purpose for the workshop and began to engage with the group, setting them work to explore and expose workplace culture.  They used very similar phrases that I used to describe and facilitate change.  At the end of the workshop I was surprised when the staff said – Oh they made so much sense – weren’t they great – etc. That evening,  over a social catch up with my colleagues, I broached the subject, enquiring -  How come you got all those accolades and aha moments, yet I have been saying very similar things to this group for ages, and getting so little response.  My wise colleague explained. Sometimes just having an external person reiterate your intention really brings the message home. How gracious, but also how interesting that I needed to invite an external facilitator to highlight for the group an important message and to help me make progress enabling us to move out of a sticking point with that group. A lesson learned  in terms of working with multiple messaging and never losing intention over purpose.  More of that in another paper I am still writing…. 

2: Change is never linear but is complicated, convoluted and challenging, even when it is anticipated.  

A basic human instinct in our behaviour, explained through left and right brain neurology, means we all have a  tendency to seek out the familiar;  a desire to sustain a level of calm, consistency and regularity to our daily routines.  We have been taught to achieve a slow steady ship that can be steered to avoid all kinds of icebergs.  The Titanic was hailed the ship that wouldn’t sink yet has become an infamous example of grand claims without thinking through the consequences and a need for enough lifeboats. 

3: Take into consideration what matters to the people you are working with, leading or managing. Consider what is important for them in the process of change? What will a good outcome look and feel like? Can the change process be halted or sped up as situations emerge and present themselves when working collectively as a team?

How to sustain people through moments of pause, allocating time to debrief, and look back at where and how far progress has been made, despite it feeling like an uphill struggle. Checking in with people, to raise to the surface any pent up tensions, regrets or fears. Not needing to fix things for everyone, but in giving safe space for exploration, sharing and addressing the myths and monsters of past change that has left its scars. And importantly, exploring what and how we learn together to transverse the new realities of modernity.