From insecurity to readiness for change
When a leader uses an unexpected and “unwelcome” change to create the opportunity for his team to be more resilient.
CHALLENGE
A manager in the customer service department of a public institution was informed of an upcoming reorganization. He expected the productivity and motivation of his teams to suffer as soon as the first rumors leaked out. He decided to strengthen the resilience of his coworkers and raise their change readiness before talked to them about the reorganization. This would enable them to maintain a high-quality customer service during the re-organization and thus keep jobs.
APPROACH
We invited the manager to first participate separately in a greytogreen workshop, to give him a fuller understanding of the process and potential outcomes, before he enrolled his team.
He then organized greytogreen workshops with his teams, followed by a meeting where he shared what he knew about the upcoming change.
Each team member was able to examine and express their own insecurities with regards to the planned changes in a constructive way and in a safe, non-challenging environment.
A few weeks after the workshop, the manager formally informed his team of the changes lying ahead and discussed the situation with them using their common greytogreen vocabulary and process. Under his leadership, they confronted the reorganization together.
RESULTS
The greytogreen workshop enabled all team members to develop a better understanding of their own thought patterns, emotions and reactions. They realized that they had a choice in how to view the planned changes and that they could influence their own reality. Having gotten to know each other on a deeper level, the entire team was able to adopt a “yes we can” attitude, and to support each other when a situation became more challenging.
TAKE AWAY
When individuals discover their capacity to change their own perception and thus their own attitude, they can deal with change effectively, both in their professional and personal life.
When an entire team does this together, they can actively shape future outcomes.
