We have had a few people asking
Can you be more practical about challenges and change?
and
What else happens with change?
So, here are our thoughts about the first three phases.
When you review the change process it is important to remember that these phases don’t just happen. We move through the phases as we become aware. And we make decisions regarding our responses to the challenge we are facing.
The important message I would like to share is pertinent for those who are about to embark on a leadership learning experience.
Perhaps you are a participant commencing one of our 2019 leadership experiences. This will help you maximise your first moments or days of the experience. I know I can sometimes spin-off into the stratosphere with my ideas but to assist with clarity of my messages I am, once again, going to try to talk about my experiences and what I have observed.
At Affectus, we have found that the first three phases are often the most challenging so I have focused today's thinking there.
1. Moving on from Immobilisation
When you are frozen the first action to assist you and others to move on is to re-affirm that individuals are safe.
Recently I had a conversation with one of our graduates. The revelation from that conversation was that Affectus facilitators often ask participants to be fearless and have a go. This is not unlike the challenges that can face us in our day-to-day.
The graduate told me of the repeated sense of immobilisation when Affectus asked participants to take action. During these experiences, the participant developed an ability to move from the frozen moment to action. They stated that
this is because a safe space had been created.
Your leadership action
Create the safe space for yourself through examining your concerns and acknowledging that you will be ok. Make sure you are building safe spaces to counter the immobilisation.
2. Denial
We have been asked
How do you recognise denial and move to the next phase?
Our observation is that this isn’t so easy. Why? Because it clearly involves honesty and self-awareness. Honesty that you want to bury your head in the sand. And awareness that you are indeed doing just that.
Patrick Lencioni talks about trust as the key element in assisting teams in raising their productivity. Brene Brown has explored the leadership concept of vulnerability. Both of these are essential to move beyond denial. Trust that you are needing to face this challenge and will be ok.
However, from my experience, it is most valuable to have someone in my team who can call it. Someone who will bravely ask
why are you not getting on with the job?
This is code for you are being an ostrich.
I recently had one of the Affectus team do just that. You should have heard the accountability (NOT) come out of my mouth. However, through the “call it” conversation it became clear that I had my head firmly in the sand. And it was gritty and uncomfortable, and the sand was getting in the way of my ability to be able to see my way out. It was so useful to have someone trust our relationship enough to call it out.
Your leadership action
Find someone who will call it when they see you are stuck in denial.
3. Incompetence
I have someone in my network who is terrific at understanding the constant need to move people out of that space of “yep I have to change but I don’t have knowledge or skills”. In other words, assisting people to move beyond the incompetence phase.
I have observed my colleague over the years. Sometimes she jumps the gun to offer skilling up/knowledge sharing before those around her even know they are feeling incompetent. And occasionally there is resistance. But through working with her over the years I now know the questions that assist me to identify what I can do to move on from incompetence.
The first question is (and I use it often)
Do I need to do anything?
Well to be completely honest sometimes it is someone else’s role. But I know that there is always something I can or need to do. And that is not to resist and to embrace the change upon us/me/the team.
If I do need to take action the questions I have found useful are:
- What do I need to know?
Sometimes this requires some thinking through. Identifying what don’t I know (sometimes easy to see sometimes not so easy) and then finding information. Researching and reading or talking and sharing ideas. - What skill do I need to develop?
For me and my learning style, this requires talking and being shown and then being supervised and encouraged as I have a go. If it is a completely foreign skill sometimes I need quite a bit of time and many attempts.
Your leadership action
You will have a learning style. Find a way of learning new skills in a way that works for you.
Develop the expectation that you and your workplace welcomes and encourages the open exploration of knowledge building and skill enhancement.