There’s an interesting blog on HBR today called What to Do When You’re Out of Control by Peter Bregman.  It’s written as an example of how we can help ourselves feel better and deal with others more effectively in uncertain situations. To me it strikes right at the heart of Change Management.

As Change Managers, Agents and Leaders we create and oversee situations where people are much more likely to feel that they are completely out of control. As Peter’s article clearly illustrates, this lack of control puts people into a heightened state of anxiety where the smallest trigger can result abnormal behaviour.  By this I mean behaviour that we wouldn’t normally expect to see within our workplace or even within our everyday life. I’ve seen people scream and shout, burst into tears and even deliberately crash their car, not just  because they feel that their world is being turned upside down and inside out BUT ALSO because they feel that nothing they can do will make any difference.

The emotional cycle of change - Kübler-Ross 1969

That’s why a key element of the role of a Change Manager has to be to explore and develop ways for each individual effected by the change to exert some control over their own lives.  And I do use that breadth of language deliberately. Events that we have control over act as a chunk of bedrock to stand on or a life saver to grab hold of during the turbulence of change but while that turbulence is within the workplace, the solution does not have to be.

One of the problems with extending individuals’ control within the workplace is that, like taking a peek at Schrödinger’s cat, allowing individuals to influence the change taking place affects the probable success of the transformation.  How do you maintain the clarity of vision required and ensure that the change programme speaks with a single voice while you are encouraging everyone to shout at the same time? It’s a fundamental of Change Management that everyone has to share the same understanding of what’s happening and how they’re going to get there.

So how do you give people control of what goes on outside the workplace?  Of course you can’t tell people what to do on their own time.  What you can give them is training and development designed to increase their emotional intelligence and help them to feel more confident about exerting control wherever the opportunity arises, in or out of the workplace.  Simply talking people through the emotional cycle of change and helping them to understand where on the line they are and the stages they still have to go through can also have a profound effect – understanding something is the first step towards feeling ‘in control’.

If you’re responsible for managing change in your business you may be interested in my 2 day Frameworks for Change Management course.