Managing Change in a Covid-19 World

Managing Change in a Covid-19 World

Change Management gurus would tell you that the only constant thing in life is change. Everything is changing at every moment, including yourself as you read this article. Some things are changing slowly and unnoticeable while others are undergoing a fast pace of change. Usually, things that change at a slower pace are much easier to manage than those that are changing at a faster rate. I have observed that in most instances, slower change does not worry people as much as a fast-speed change rate does. Why is it so? Well, I think it’s quite obvious. Let’s try and find out why.

Slower and Fast rate Change

When things change at a slower pace, we as humans are quite able to participate with ease. We can maneuver or sometimes ‘auto pilot’ slower change. We are on top of it – and are able to control the outcomes, in most cases. When change is going slower, we feel we are in charge and are on the driver’s or controller’s seat.

However, when change hits us at a faster rate, we feel a sense of insecurity and loss of control. We discover that we are vulnerable and fearful of the unknown outcomes. We are exposed and realize all we knew, and still know, cannot reverse the trigger of change that has gone off. We discover that all of a sudden, we are left on the back foot of change itself. 

Covid-19 imposition of Change on all humans

And from my personal observation, this is the phenomenon Covid-19 has left a lot of people in. Experts, specialists and professionals alike are waking up to the reality that there is a huge monster (more than a size of an elephant) in their room – not necessarily the virus itself, but the CHANGE Covid-19 is imposing on everybody.   Covid-19 did not announce its arrival. It came suddenly on the far East-Asian country, called China. Sooner than later, Covid-19 was on the shores of Europe and USA – and before everybody was ready for it, Covid-19 started dictating its own terms on people’s livelihood, work space, and above all, on human close relation expressions such as hugs, kisses and handshakes. Covid-19’s change on human life, and everything we hold dearly, has become too inevitable to ignore. 

How to Manage Change imposed by Covid-19

There are currently more questions than answers to how this change imposed by Covid-19 should be managed. Questions like these cannot be ignored at this stage of the virus:

1.      How are we going to manage the change that Covid-19 has imposed on how humans greet each other and relate to each other?

2.      How are we going to manage the change imposed on national economies that have taken such a knock from Covid-19?

3.      Going forward, how are we going to manage work space environments after Covid-19 has done its rounds?

4.      How are we going to manage the corporate business people culture and customer-relations that have emphasized face-to-face business since time immemorial? 

5.      How are we going to manage the change imposed on country-to-country relationships within regions, continents and all parts of the world?

6.      How are we going to manage the change imposed on our own perspective of the world?

Three Kinds of Reaction to Change

Before we attempt to answer how we are going to manage the change Covid-19 is imposing on all human life, we need to know that generally humans respond to change in three ways – especially the change that makes them uncomfortable:

·        They FIGHT – a negative emotional way of managing change.

·        They take a FLIGHT – running away from the realities of change.

·        They FREEZE – overwhelmed by reality and getting depressed by things happening around them.

Phases of dealing with the “How to” Questions on Change

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss-American Psychiatrist, a pioneer of near-death studies observed and promoted a five-phase theory of coping with grief. From a management perspective, the same could apply to the way people deal and cope with change.  For this article, I have added two more phases which helps to put all into perspective. 

1.      Shock Phase – at first instance, there is a shock that something like Covid-19 is happening around one’s life. It’s just happening too fast for one’s liking or comfort.

2.      Denial – a lot of people denied, and continue to deny, the fact that Covid-19 will have an impact on their lives – until they see themselves being forced into quarantine or complete isolation. Some nations went into denial about the existence of Covid-19 until the numbers of citizens affected could not be hidden from the global scrutiny of the impact of the virus.

3.      Anger – Angry that people have become hopeless amidst overwhelming evidence of the negative impact of the corona virus on humans, businesses and the world at large.

4.      Projection – Blame game hit almost every sanity of human endeavor when the virus started spreading at a fast rate. Blaming the nation where Covid-19 strike first. Blaming leaders who were slow to respond and act. Blaming oneself for not heeding to precautious measures. 

5.      Depressed – to many people, Covid-19 has become a depressing moment in life. Plans are out of control. Economies are down, jobs are lost, relations are distant and the saddest of all, death is all around! 

6.      Negotiation – when the virus finally caught up with a lot of people, nations – there was no way out but to start negotiating terms of keeping the covid-19 curve flat. Suddenly, changing ways of doing business, keeping a social distance between human physical relations and going to social media to try and do business differently has become the norm and reality of life.

7.      Acceptance – finally, acceptance! This is a place to be at if we are to manage the changes Covid-19 has brought on us. Acceptance does not mean defeat. Acceptance in this context means we, like the ancient wise man, say: “Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference”

Managing change in a Covid-19 world entails that we move through the phases of change as fast as we can. We need to move from being shocked, from denying the reality, from the negative emotions of anger, from blaming others and even our mistakes, from getting depressed about the situation we find ourselves in, to accepting the reality of Covid-19 and moving further to negotiating new terms for our lives and making change an inevitable reality - working from home and keeping social distance.

Dr. Amon Kasambala is the Founder and Chief Executive of the Global Advisory Plan Services, a leadership and management advisory Consultancy. He can be contacted on: amotiba@gmail.com