Organizational change and the unconscious. How can organizational change have higher success rates? (2/2)

What can organizations do to support change for individuals at the subconscious level?

For organizations to be able to support change for individuals at the subconscious level, they need to:

1.??????Have a clear definition of the future (vision) they want to be moving to.

2.??????Have a strong, structured and well organization communication plan, that highlights the benefits of that future – with VISUALS – as people’s brain process information much easier in a visual way – always remember – A PICTURE IS WORTH A?1000 WORDS.

o??Explain to people (CLEARLY and without withholding vital information) the process of change that will happen, so that people:

§?Start to visualize and feel a connection to that future

§?Start to want that future

§?Embrace that future and act in connection with that in a sustained way.

§?Incorporate (In corpo – in the body) that future in themselves, allowing for the creation new ways of doing things in a future automated way (new habits).

3.??????Allow people to work on their subconscious towards the future (aligning body, mind and spirit):

o??Mindfulness

o??Meditation

o??Journaling

o??Physical exercise

4.??????Allow people to bring the subconscious to the conscious, i.e., that individuals have awareness and conscience of what is happening for them in an automated way that is barely perceived why they are doing those things.

Coaching can help here.

Having coaching programs for people at several levels of the organization, and not only at the top of the hierarchy, will facilitate more people to start creating the foundations for change.?????????

5.??????Allow people to reflect deeper on the behaviours they have, that they would like to change, and who they are in the situations those behaviours happen.

o??Allow people to have time to think, reflect and journal – when people download their thoughts to paper or to a document, and then read what they wrote, their thoughts are “visible”, are in front of them, the impact of the thoughts on people is much stronger. The thoughts that were stored sometimes at a subconscious level, are now visible and therefore conscious.

o??Teach them to better manage their time and energy, considering at least the following:

§?Have a training course on the onboarding process about time and energy management - teach new collaborators how to best manage their time right at the start of their time in the organization, and do the same training for the employees that are already in the organization for some time:

§?Have blocks of focused time to produce better by focusing on 1 task a time,

§?Have blocked time to plan and reflect for the day / week/month ahead,

§?Minimize distractions and interruptions by shutting off / muting / pausing notifications on their computers (Slack / Teams allow for muting channels / pausing notifications) and their mobile phones (On the definitions of the phone you can mute all the notifications of the apps- maybe there are some important to be kept- consider those really the essential ones only).

§?Teach people to take their eyes away from the computer screen regularly (every , to 90 minutes) to recover from the visual and mental fatigue and reenergize themselves. If people take lots of attention and care to the battery level of their mobile phones, they can start to notice and care about their own energy levels, noticing when they are low, and putting themselves on the “recharge” mode.

§?On these pauses people can use time to reflect a bit on what they were working on, (or think about something that is not connected with what they were doing before) and not distracting themselves with looking their phones seeking for dopamine (watching videos or engaging on social media or replying to emails on the phone)

6.??????Allow people to connect deeper with themselves and feel?what feelings and emotions they have when they experience the behaviours they have, that they would like to change. It’s much more useful for people to express their emotions and feelings and not to supress them. By supressing the emotions people are in a way disconnected with themselves and their entirety and their bodies. They mostly use their minds and their thoughts. There are physical sensations happening in their bodies when they act in certain ways (for example, when they lose control and react instinctively by raising their voice to argument with someone else they are interacting with at that time) that people don’t notice happening, even if these sensations are strong and very palpable (like a pain in the chest, the gut rumbling, sudation in the hands or in other parts of the body, dry throat, difficulty in breathing, accelerated heart beats or breathing, etc).

7.??????Allow people to connect more with their bodies, so that they start to notice the sensations mentioned above, and the triggers that put they in control of the subconscious program – and not doing conscious behaviours. The body is the recipient of the learned subconscious behaviours and acts as the mind, allowing people to do tasks in an automated way. This saves energy, however it makes people to concede “power and attention” to “a program” and do some things that they regret immediately as conscious thought appears. Ensuring that people in the organization exercise regularly is important, at a physical and mental level as well. Yoga is a good example – as it supports the connection between body and mind, namely through breathing exercises, stretching the body and mindfulness and relaxation. The focus is on the new – The mind and the body need to be aligned to consolidate the automation of the new wanted behaviours.

8.??????Facilitate people to find new ways of doing the tasks they are used of doing (eventually for a long time). When people start to do tasks they usually do, in a different way, they are creating new connections in their brains. This allows them to see the reality in a different way. This allows them to, with new connections in their brains, see other possibilities, have more insights, see more solutions and have more innovative and creative ideas that can hopefully help the organization move forward towards the new versus keeping the status quo.

9.??????Minimize threats first and as a priority and maximize rewards later. Using the SCARF Model created by @David Rock will help a lot understanding this.

What is done today regarding change is exactly the opposite:

If you don’t do things in the new way you are punished.

Punishment is a threat, and this drives automatic reactions of the limbic system accordingly (fight / flight and eventually freeze).

Therefore, punishment will make people fight change, move away from change or be paralyzed by change

Using the Midas Touch structured reflection framework can help a lot as it allows for individuals and teams to define / perceive the reality they are in, the future (vision) that they want to move to / have, and then facilitate an holistic analysis in several areas:

·????????Thoughts

·????????Emotions and Feelings

·????????Body sensations

·????????Behaviours

Having now an in-depth view and awareness of the present and of the future, using the MIDAS framework to build an action plan aligned with people, their future thoughts, and emotions, facilitates the execution of the new desired behaviours that puts organizations on a more consistent pathway to the future, with more possibilities of success in the transformation phase.

The business plan of the transformation is now much more complete and goes beyond just numbers, goals, sales, targets, productivity %s, market quotas and profits. It considers people at the core and as a crucial part of all the change initiative.

As the majority of change initiatives at a global level as a success rate of around 30 % for about 50 years or more, it’s probably time to change the way organizations design, deal and implement change.

In summary, let’s contribute to make the change HUMAN.

In return Humans will change, and the Organizations will change as a consequence.

The Industry 5.0 approach to the economy and business environment is a framework that facilitates ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE and contributes to the improvement of our capacity to treat the planet and nature with more respect, as it is based on a NO WASTE basis, at a raw materials, products, subproducts, resources, energy sources and usage and of course HUMAN levels.

Please contact me to know how the Midas Touch Framework can facilitate your individual, team or organizational change/transformation initiatives.

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