Steps in changes process

Step One: explain the change and why it is required?

The first step in creating any positive change in your life is to find out what you
want - that may seem obvious. And you may know exactly what you want right now.
There may be a dream you've held for years but never acted on. But many people
are aware of wanting change, yet are not sure what kind of change or where to
start. If this is you - or even if you're one of the sure ones - it can be useful to begin
by exploring what you don't like in your life. That's often a lot easier to locate; you
probably have a list of things you complain about to your friends. You can start with
that list, and there may be even more to explore. I want to help you clarify what is
not working, what is causing you pain or distress in any area of your life - work,
income, relationships, health, leisure, creativity, and spirituality.

To find out, ask yourself about each area: "On a scale of 1 to 10, how would I rate
that part of my life?" If it scores lower than 7, ask yourself what is missing or not
satisfying about that aspect of your life.

Clearing a Space
Another way to explore what feels "off" in your life is to use a process called
Clearing a Space, a technique I learned from my study of Focusing, the body-
oriented method. To clear your mental space, start by asking yourself, "What is
standing between me and feeling fine right now?" In a receptive, listening mode,
wait for what arises. Whatever comes to mind, imagine that whole situation as a
"something" that you can pick up and move. Now imagine yourself placing it on a
shelf or putting it outside your room. You have temporarily removed that obstacle
from your mind. Then ask the question again and wait: "Now what is between me
and feeling fine?" Something else will arise. Take that new thing and place it on the
shelf. Keep going, for as long as it takes for you to feel spacious and free - because,
if you continue this practice, using your imagination to remove all the obstacles to
your well-being from your inner space, eventually you will arrive at an open "fine"

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place. (This is a great tool to use when you want to de-stress, meditate, or just clear
your mental space.)

If you take notes during this process, you will easily develop a list of all your "don't
likes." Now you need to choose which one to focus on first. If you could only change
one thing, which would it be? Does one jump out as the most important obstacle to
your happiness? Maybe a lot of little events came up - issues with loved ones,
worries at work. You may need to name what the essence of the problem is beneath
the outer forms to find the true issue. Maybe the space you created by removing
those nagging concerns allows you to take a bigger look at your life. What do you
see freshly in this more open, peaceful place?

If you can't limit yourself to one factor you want to change, choose two or three at
the most. But know that sometimes changing only one thing has a ripple effect;
many other areas will seem to magically improve, just because you now have more
pleasure, more peace, or more time in your life.

Why change is necessary:

Too often corporate boards of directors fear change management because they fear
shaking things up, which might make things worse. However when it is time for a
change; change management is necessary and often it will be for the better. It
would be hard to debate that change management in corporations does cause
stress on the executive teams and often, temporary chaos. But that is not to say we
should accept this or fail to make a change when he changes needed.

Change management is necessary when it is time for a change and it is time to

distinguish the goals of the forward progression of the company with the goals of
inter fiefdoms, which have been grown over time using the primate politics of
mankind. Unfortunately all too often in corporate America we find departments with
department heads or corporate management teams, which tend to be ball hogs and

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they always make sure they get what they want over what is best for the
shareholders, the company, the employees and to the quarterly profits.

Let's make no mistake corporations are in business to make money and not simply
to build inner fiefdoms of power within the organization. That could be likened to a
cancer tumor. We should not fear change in corporations because change is a
constant, which occurs in free markets and the management must adapt or die in
the process. For those management teams, which cannot handle it they have no
business working at the corporate level and they should all be fired as far as I'm
concerned.

Five Necessary Actions for Organizational Change

1. Be clear why change is necessary in terms that make sense to the

individuals:
State clear consequences for continuing with the current state. Make
assessments of the value for changing.

People know what is important to their managers by how they spend their
time

2. Declare an initial set of standards for measuring performance and

get agreement that people will set out to perform to those
standards. Begin a practice of checking.
Be public with your standard-setting. Create alignment with the group that
they will hold themselves to the new standards. People are accountable when
there is a customer holding them to account. Good customers show their
appreciation for results and efforts.
3. Show how it is done.
People need to see that it is possible to be successful performing a new (set
of) behaviors. Talking about it — merely "Jawboning" — doesn't work.
Put each new person in action while you are introducing them to the new
behavior.
4. Measure, acknowledge, reward new behavior, and be clear on the
consequences.

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 Put yourself in the position to catch people doing it right. Be with them in
their work-setting while they are working. This also gives you the opportunity
to coach or adjust unsuccessful action.
People need encouragement and redirection while they are learning. Make
yourself available for that. Keep the context of the change – consequences of
not changing and the new value available – in the foreground for performers.
Remind your team and yourself with regular stories of why this change
matters.
5. Work with them on improving.
This fifth action is the one that cements the change. Often people put up with
little dissatisfactions during a change telling them that it will get better once
they are familiar or competent. The truth is usually the opposite. The
annoyances are only magnified by the frequency of action. Commit yourself
to continuously improve the changed situation for the benefit of the
participants, the customers, and the company. That action telegraphs the
importance of the change.

STEP TWO: To way communication:

Definition:

Two-way communication - uses communication

to negotiate with publics, resolve conflict, and
promote mutual understanding and respect
between the organization and its public(s).

Or

Any form of communication between two parties,

both of whom can send and receive messages

Tips for encouraging two way communication:

1. Regular Staff Briefs by Senior Management

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Very often senior management will cascade announcements and information down
through the various chains of management. Inevitably this can take time and
sometimes the chain breaks. Also, staff in lower levels can't identify with senior
management because they never see them. Getting the whole organization
together in one location and briefing staff collectively is a great way of getting
information to everyone immediately and promoting familiarity with staff at lower
levels. Question and answer sessions maybe uncomfortable, but the two way
communication they facilitate can provide valuable feedback.

2. Electronic Communication

The advent of email means that announcements can be made to vast numbers of
people at all levels with just the touch of a button. This way of communication is
great where all employees use a computer in their work, but the flow of information
is only one way. Computer can be used, however, to facilitate company forums or
online message boards where staff in different levels of the organization can
provide feedback on specific issues or make comments that everyone at all levels
can see.

3. Staff magazines

Staff magazines are a great way making announcements in large organizations,

providing information and gaining feedback from staff at all levels. Sometimes large
organizations bombard their staff with memos and flyers about company policies,
rules and regulations which can be heavy reading and difficult to digest. By making
such information available in staff magazine, broken up my more light hearted and
fun content, it can make this information more palatable for everyone.

STEP THREE: Gather suggestion to help put change into action:

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Eliminate fear of unknown:

Fear is a powerful force in our lives – when we allow it to be! Is there a hidden (or
not so hidden) fear lurking in your mind that is holding you back from the life you
want? Do you find that you hesitate when you are presented with new
opportunities? Do you allow your own negative imaginations to rule your actions?

Have you ever been in a situation where you were prepared for the worst to
happen? Your mind ran wild with terrible imaginings and you were literally
paralyzed by fear! Soon the feared event happened! Yet when you eventually
passed through the actual experience you realized that the fear you had was much
worse than the actual event!

Most of us have had such experiences.

On the other hand have you ever feared the worst and it didn’t happen?

In both the above situations you probably worked yourself into a frenzy in
anticipation of this terrible thing that was about to happen only to find out later that
your fears were unfounded. Did you find that the actual experience was not nearly
as bad as the fear you initially had.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933.

So what is fear and how do we defeat it?

Fear is the result of negative mental programming. Fear enters your mind when
your automatic thinking is negative. When you find yourself well outside your
comfort zone and in unknown territory! It is the unknown outcome that produces
fear in any situation and the collection of many thoughts that direct your
consciousness to the worst possible scenario.

Fear is false!

If you look closely at your fears you will find that the great majority of them never
come to pass and those that do are not as bad as you expected them to be.

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The key to conquering fear lies in your thinking and questioning. In future when you
are confronted with a fear you should stop for a moment and take a very deep
breath. Breathing deeply relaxes the body and removes the tension that the fear is
creating in your body. Then look closely at the way you have just been thinking.
Isn’t it true that you filled your mind with images that equated to the worst things
that could happen in that situation?

Reverse the thoughts! Begin by questioning the fear. Use the following four
questions to paralyze the fear!

1. Is your feared based in reality?

2. If the fear were to become reality would the experience really be as bad as you
have been thinking it would be?

3. Is it possible that you may actually gain something from experiencing

the feared event?

This last question may sound like a strange thing to ask you but there is a two-fold
reason for asking it. Firstly, any thought in a different direction breaks the runaway
train of negative fearful thought! Secondly, it forces you to look at the fear from a
different perspective and neutralizes its power.

4. Is it possible that if I change my thinking now I can actually create what

I want instead of being fearful?

When we change how we think we change how we act. A great majority of people
who experience the things that they have feared for a long time have actually
brought about the feared event themselves because they have constantly focused
on their fears. By focusing on your fears you tend to act in ways that are connected
to the fears and thus you unconsciously create the feared event. An example would
be a person who fears they will lose their partner.

In order to keep the person they will try to control everything they do, constantly
question their actions and scrutinize their every move in order to ensure they never
leave them. Can you see how trying to do this will actually create the reverse effect

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and push the person away. Yet to them they are ensuring they keep the person!
Every one of us acts in this way everyday – we outwardly attract our fears through
our actions due to our focus.

Likewise, when we hold in mind the expectation that we will receive what we want
to receive our thinking affects our actions and we find ourselves attracting the very
things we want.

So to avoid attracting situations and people that will help you manifest your own
fears constantly ask yourself the four fear-busting questions above. You will soon
find that your fears are only shadows with no real substance and you will begin to
move forward in the direction you want.

Employee Involvement for Effective Change Management

• Create a plan for involving as many people as possible, as early as possible,

in the change process.

• Involve all stakeholders, process owners, and employees who will feel the
impact of the changes, as much as possible, in the learning, planning, decisions,
and implementation of the change. Often, in change management, a small group
of employees learns important information about change and change
management. If they fail to share the information with the rest of the employees,
the remaining employees will have trouble catching up with the learning curve.

If a small group makes the change management plans, employees affected by

the decisions will not have had needed time to analyze, think about, and adjust to
the new ideas. If you leave employees behind, at any stage of the process, you
open the door in your change management process, for misunderstanding,
resistance, and hurt.

• Even if employees cannot affect the overall decision about change, involve
each employee in meaningful decisions about their work unit and their work.

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 • Build measurement systems into the change process that tell people when
they are succeeding or failing. Provide consequences in either case. Employees
who are positively working with the change need rewards and recognition. After
allowing some time for employees to pass through the predictable stages of
change, negative consequences for failure to adopt the changes, are needed.

STEP FOUR: Agree on Action Plan:

After all the brainstorming and gathering suggestions we have to screen in search
of the best suggestions. We can edit our action plan according to the requirements
and suggestions. Most important of all is that employees and the team and the
management come to the agreed action plan. There are many benefits of agreed
action plan. It increases the commitment level and motivational level.

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