Leadership & Change Management
Dr Tarek Jomaa
At the Intersection of Motorsport Engineering & Leadership: Empowering Sustainable High-Performance Cultures | Founder & CEO | Executive Coach | Dr in Engineering | ?? Global Keynote Speaker
In today’s article, I would like to briefly touch on one of the common reasons why 70 to 80% of change initiatives, implemented by organisations, fail to deliver the expected results (King and Peterson, 2007).
Understanding the "change curve"
A good starting point would be to explore the “change curve”?that derives from the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969). It defines the 7 steps that we go through when faced with change. Of course, these steps are more of a general guide rather than being a norm for all of us. Every personality will experience change and cope with it differently, not only regarding the time spent on each phase but also the sequence of the phases.
The human response to change (Smith et al., 2014)
Phase 1 represents the “Shock” where the individual is introduced to change. Its intensity and impact depend on the level of resistance to change within the individual. This highlights the importance of effective communication and preparation when introducing change, and adopting a collaborative approach, such as coaching and a democratic leadership style,?rather than a coercive leadership style
Phase 2 is about?“Denial” where the individual’s natural resistance will lead to an increase in their defensiveness when facing change. It usually has a direct impact on their performance and mood.
Phase 3 is characterised by “Anger/ Blame” where the individual can no longer deny or avoid engaging with the change hence leading to a negative attitude towards it. They usually tend to perceive the change as unfair, especially when it has a direct impact on them, with no benefits or improvements over the current approach/method of working.
Phase 4 is an extension of the previous phase where the individual turns the blame towards themselves as a natural reaction to their decline in mood and performance.
Further decline in performance and mood can lead to phase 5 “ Depression and confusion”. Phase 4/5 is critical where the individual’s resistance to change might persist, hence rejecting it. This usually results in the employee seeking a different opportunity somewhere else. Such a phase reveals the importance of communicating change effectively to better help people perceive its benefits, usefulness and limitations. People usually look at change as a destabilising factor that is threatening their security and routine therefore, they naturally seek reassurance that they do have some control rather than be left feeling powerless in the face of change. This is where adopting appropriate leadership (Goleman, 2017) styles and making them feel actively involved in the process, will help reduce their resistance. Great leadership usually succeed in leading the majority towards the final two phases “Acceptance” and “Problem-solving”, which is where employees accept the change, adapt to it and engage in problem-solving behaviour.
Change in a nutshell
As figure 1 illustrates, the change curve is a function of time which enables us to reflect on the differences between those announcing the change and those receiving it. Those announcing the change are usually more involved in the process, therefore having the time to go through the first 5 phases of the “change curve” to finally reach “acceptance“ and “Problem-solving”, while those receiving the change just started their journey on the “change curve” and are still in the early stages such as “shock”, “Denial” and “Blame”.
This is where great leadership ensures the successful implementation of change by communicating effectively and demonstrating a high level of empathy and emotional intelligence toward people receiving the change instead of "judging their early reactions too harshly as inappropriate resistance" (Smith et al., 2014, p.11). People are more prone to change when they feel part of it.
True leadership is about drawing the big picture where everyone clearly perceives their place in it and their crucial contribution towards it.
Dr Tarek Jomaa