Why Does Change In The Workplace Fail?

Transcript

Lachy Gray  00:00

Three to change is a given. Our world is changing every day on a micro all the way through to macro scale, and COVID forced us all to change overnight with varying degrees of success. And in the workplace change is not always handled skillfully. Whether that's a policy change that gets emailed to everyone with no consultation, a desk change, or a big digital transformation that gets announced with little detail, and commonly quoted figures that 70% of change programs fail, usually due to employee resistance and a lack of management support. So today, we're going to chat about change at work, and some of the ways we can navigate and communicate it successfully. So how do you think about change at work, Karen?

Karen Kirton  00:52

It's a really interesting question. Because when I think back to change in the workplace, and I know it sounds very trite, because change is constant. But it's true, right? That's why we say that saying all the time. And sometimes we only think of big changes like we're moving offices. We're putting in a new system, a key person leaves when restructuring. But when I was thinking about, you know, when change doesn't go well, I think it's actually a lot of the times the small changes that can be overlooked. You know, and I've seen this happen, particularly if, like a business decides they're going to change the seating structure of everybody, you know, as soon as you want to move people's deaths. That's a big change to the person, but it seems like a small change to that business. So you often get a lot of resistance there. Other things I've seen is like taking biscuits away from the kitchen, which I know you know, can sound like a really small thing, but again, it's I think it's that habit that we have as people and if we're used to going to the kitchen in the morning and then going to a particular desk and getting our biscuit and what have you and you're changing that you're not telling me about it that can cause a lot of issues. You know, another one is just even changing the types of vouchers that are given for recognition so maybe used to give a voucher that could be used at 20 stores and now you're giving one that can only be used at five stores or changing the brand of the car that you're given if you're a you know a tradesperson and you used to have a particular brand and now you've got a new one or you know, another big one is the mobile phone provider that always causes some people to get upset so so that's kind of where I initially went. And then of course, you mentioned you know, consultation because there is a legal framework here around consultation. And in Australia, you know, we have the Fair Work Act, and we also have work health and safety legislation, which requires businesses to consult on any major change. And so then, of course, the question is, well, what's a what's a major change? So So I think there's a lot of instances where we see change in the workplace, but we may not actually consider it as a change process. What are your thoughts?

Lachy Gray  03:09

Yeah, so true. It is interesting, because when I was thinking about this episode, I was thinking about big change, big organizational change. And yeah, you, as you say, it's often the little things. So today, we're gonna talk about both because I think they are both very impactful. So we'll start with big change. So talking about organizational change and as I said before, most of the time it fails, unfortunately, and it said that one of the core reasons is because people have a body and they don't understand the why behind the change. To what do you think that is?

Karen Kirton  03:50

Yeah, and I think that is a big part. But it's also a little more than that. So, you know, we all move through change at different paces. We all bring our own set of underlying beliefs and values, which makes the change different for each person. And I think in terms of that, trying to get people to buy in that that's the part that we've got to start to understand. And one of the models that I like, is based on the work of Elisabeth Kubler Ross, who created the quite well known five stages of grief, and it's called the change curve and it's a similar concept. Because when we lose something in change, and we always lose something and change, there is an element of grief associated with that. So even though we may gain things with the change as well, you know, we need to understand there's also that sense of loss so and I quite like the change curve, because it explains how we can experience change in different ways, but also the intensity of our individual reactions differ. So the change curve essentially starts with, you know, awareness, when there's a change and then we go into shock, denial, anger, sometimes blaming other people, a bit of panic sets in. And then when the change actually starts, people can move into depression and apathy. And they can get stuck in that you know, and all those words that I've just used are not great. Words, right? So that's where a change process can help is to try to get us through that process as quickly as possible. So we can actually get into acceptance and acknowledgement of the chain. We can start testing and experimenting with what has changed we can discover it's not as bad as we thought it was. We can actually get satisfied with it and then it leads to us just integrating that into our work life. So I think with you know, any change it's important to have a think about those emotions. Have you ever experienced that kind of emotional roller coaster or curve when you've gone through change?

Lachy Gray  06:02

Oh, for sure. Yeah. Absolutely. And yeah, I was just thinking we, my wife and I are watching the block at the moment. And that which if you're not familiar, is a quite a lot of drama. That's a reality. Show. It's five couples and their develop each renovating a house and each week that deliver a room and when you're talking through the change curve. It resonated because last episode, they were checking in with each of their contestants. They've been going for five weeks now. And they all have quite different mindsets as to how they deal with all these unforeseen difficulties and things changing on them and things going wrong. And some of them seem to move through this change curve quite quickly. I guess to that acceptance area almost immediately, and what they wanted to do can't be done as a problem and they just got to move on. And then there's one couple in particular, who really seem to get stuck in that kind of anger blaming panic, like they've really struggled to move through, they sort of hold on to what they wanted to do and how it was supposed to be and find it difficult to move through acceptance to just coming to terms with it and being okay with it. It's really interesting to see how that change curve can apply.

Karen Kirton  07:31

Yeah, and I think, you know, maybe one of the reasons is there are studies that show that once we can realize that a change is coming. So whether it's a new boss or a new project or a transfer, you know, whatever it is, our brains first go back into our memory and they say Okay, have you experienced something like this before? And then based on our past experiences, and whether we labeled them positive or negative, that will actually then be the key indicator of how we're going to react to a change situation. So so our memory has such a big impact on change and of course as leaders in a workplace we don't know what's in everyone's memory banks, right. So this is why having that structured change management can be really important because we're not just getting people to have some say in to buy the change, which is really vital. But if we're aware of that change curve, and we can explain the change curve to everybody and have open conversations about where we may be sitting and how we can support each other, then perhaps that can you know, help people to let go of some of those memories that might be holding them into those negative emotions.

Lachy Gray  08:35

Yeah, so to an end time is such a critical component, isn't it and I guess that's different for all of us. I think about the difference between me in the past being an employee and now being a business owner. In the past when change happened, I didn't have time to really digest it. I wasn't part of the process. It's just like, here's the change. Yeah. Deal with it. Yes. And now, I do have the time to digest and I'm a type person personality that likes to have time to digest things, especially big, big change. And it is something that I'm mindful of when I'm communicating changes to my team, that they're just at the start of that change curve. And I'm way further along.

Karen Kirton  09:26

Yes. And that's really hard to remember that sometimes too, because we forget that maybe this has been something even in your subconscious for months, before you even started to consciously think about it. So you could be you know, literally in another state compared to your team, right? For sure. Yeah.

Lachy Gray  09:46

Yeah. And I think that's that's tricky because, especially if the change is time sensitive. And I think some of the COVID changes probably were Yes. Where we had to make decisions quickly, for example, us going fully remote. That happened very fast. And we tried to communicate with the team as best we could and give our rationale and the context and what was going on. But they didn't have the time, I guess to move through the curve and perhaps how they would have liked and that's hard. Yeah,

Karen Kirton  10:23

yeah, absolutely.

Lachy Gray  10:27

So other if we step back to our sort of organizational change for a moment, some of the other reasons that change programs fail is that people try to run multiple change programs simultaneously or different business units try to tackle different issues at the same time. And as you say, they most people have probably experienced a change program that's failed in the past. And that memory is very strong, because as well like the negative sticks, doesn't it so negative emotions have stuck in memory and they come to the surface very quickly. So is this something that you see in action?

Karen Kirton  11:13

Yeah, and I think probably where that all comes back to is a lack of clarity around goals and purpose for the organization because if we have teams thinking that different things are more important for the business, then there's got to be a lack of clarity there. I think also the culture so if your culture enables and us versus them rather than working together, through the change, and you know, the way that people try and get around this in large organizations is that you end up with committees and project sponsors and you know, everyone has a say, and everyone goes to this boring meet has to fill out forms with traffic lights, but you know that there's a reason for that. Whereas in smaller organizations, you know, if you have really clear company goals and you can, I think prioritize those changes more effectively.

Lachy Gray  12:04

Yeah, for sure. And the good news is that there are some things we can do to give ourselves a better shot at not becoming another statistic. And a research study at Infosys of 1000. Global Leaders found that three strategies were successful in managing change. The first one is asking why the change is required. And I think that fits regardless of the size of the organization on my experience to why can't be forgotten. You know how used to implement, say a new tool, which we're all really excited about, and also what behavior needs to change to achieve the change itself, and also break the beginning, breaking the big changes down into small steps to breaking a larger project. into smaller projects, each with an objective and outcome. So we get a sense of progress. And also we're what we're trying to achieve for that smaller project. And changing behavior through through smaller modifications to habits and routines. So one example they get from his study is moving from longer form. Online learning there could take a few hours to micro learning that takes minutes, and the employees found it easier to consume the training and then to progress consistently. And that created a new habit of daily upskilling which was beneficial and then also to continuously measure learn evolve so often starting with a pilot project, and using the learnings to inform a larger rollout. And I know it ya know, when we work with a large new customer, they will often start with a pilot project to prove that it's going to work which which makes a lot of sense to how do these suggestions resonate with your current?

Karen Kirton  13:54

Yeah, I think they're all really great. And as you were talking, I was reflecting when I worked in larger organizations and you couldn't do anything without a pilot. Always trying to find a team that would volunteer to do something because, you know, doing something with a group of 30 people 300 people is very different to 3000. Yeah. And I think, you know, that first point about asking why and the changes required, you know, if you're not clear on that, you're not gonna be able to be clear on that with others. So that's a really good point. And I think all of those are really great and we'll keep the change on track. But you know, like you were saying before in terms of time, you know, it will be slower because you need to dedicate that time to go through those processes. So, when we do have sudden changes often where things can fall down. And COVID is sometimes feels like an overused example at the moment, but it is a good one because that really forced very quick change in a lot of businesses, whether they lost all their customers overnight. Or, you know, they suddenly couldn't do the deals that they were doing overseas or, you know, whatever it might be, there was a lot of businesses that were completely changed very suddenly. So, you know, I think that if your culture is right to begin with, then you're better able to batten down the hatches, you can get people on board with that fast change and you can execute it. But it's usually not enough though. So having some change frameworks in place, are still really useful. Even in those sudden changes or those big planned changes. So there's a lot of frameworks out there is the one that you've used in the past or one that you particularly like,

Lachy Gray  15:43

there is and as you know, I love frameworks. So, one that I like is called add car from prophesy, and that spelled a d k AR. And it stands for awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. So it's an acronym for the five outcomes that an individual needs to achieve for a change to be successful. And I guess the fact that there's this five step process here suggest that the change does require time and effort. What I like about it is that it can be flexed up and down so you can use it as as a checklist. So that's thinking through the awareness of the need to change, which is the why we talked about before, the desire to participate and support the change, knowledge on how to change. I guess training is a component of that. The ability to implement the skills and behavior required or that new ones do we need upskilling to make this work and reinforcement to sustain the change and I think reinforcements are really important part is, and I think it's often missed is that once the change is in we've got to keep returning to work communicating, making sure that it's as expected, and if not, how can we help and make it work? And that could take months and years. So I think this framework can adapt according to our situation. But also, I think we need to make sure that someone's accountable for seeing the change through and they have the support of, of senior leadership. I just, I just don't see how it can work otherwise. And it also gives the person who is accountable and opportunity to upskill and develop in an area, which I think is fantastic.

Karen Kirton  17:48

Yeah, and I think that that reinforcement, PACE is often forgotten. And that's where change doesn't actually happen. So people stop using the software program or they never start using in the first place or, you know, they go and swap with other people for the shifts that they used to have, you know, you just were human beings we'll find a way back to what we used to like doing. And that's, you know, why having some review process at the end as well and getting everybody's input into you know, what has this What's his change done for you though, you know, give us some positive things give us some negative things, you know, really ask everyone to reflect on it. You call those post implementation reviews if you like but I think that's a part that's often forgotten as well. It's just let's just try and get this done and get it done quickly. And surely everyone will get on board because everyone understands the same way that we do how important this is. So yeah, one of the images that we use when we do change management training is, you know, a flying trapeze. So you imagine you're holding on to the trapeze and to actually move to the next component of it, you've actually got to let go. So that's what we say, you know, when we're talking about changes you've actually got to let go of the past and you've got to grab on to the future. And for people to be able to do that they need to be able to see that piece of trapezoid they're going to so we've got to have that that change is reachable and also understanding it you know, in that metaphor that that's a scary thing for people to do to make that leap as well.

Lachy Gray  19:34

For sure. I do like that image. How do you have any suggestions on how you can help somebody who is finding it difficult to accept change?

Karen Kirton  19:48

Yeah, and I think when we've done change management programs with clients, it's really starting off with everyone doing that same basis of training and understanding and and we do go through the change curve in quite a bit of detail because some of it is around firstly, acknowledging that, you know, that's probably going to happen to me. And it's going to happen to my colleagues and my managers, and it can help people to get that awareness to start off with that this is what happened because even people that say they love change will still go through a process. And then it gives that common language to the business as well. So they can all start to say, okay, you know, where do we think we're at how are we moving through these but the, you know, really the biggest impact is going to be the individual manager, having discussions with the team members on an individual basis and ask him lots of open ended questions. You know, at the end of the day, it all comes back to actually talking to people just and working out. You know, what's happening for them. Rather than just say, Well, why isn't Lachy using this new software? It's amazing. It's going to make his life easier. Yeah, he's so annoying. Why isn't he doing that rather than actually saying to Lachy Hey, if you tried that software and what happened when you tried it, you know what barriers did you come across and really just trying to understand what's going on for Lachy?

Lachy Gray  21:22

Yeah, so true. That's a very relevant example, for me, because we're just having this conversation at the moment. about using a design tool Canva. And some of the team have been using it because it hasn't been our recommended tool. And some of them at team have been using it for the past couple of months just because it suits them better and they can use it faster and they prefer it. And that's really interesting is that I guess my one of my questions is yeah, like, oh, okay, so why rather than sort of coming down and saying, oh, no, you need to use this one. It's like, well, they're, they're using it. They're using it for a reason. Yes. What is it and then use that Intel to inform the next steps from there. So yeah, I think it's similar to the post implementation review that you mentioned just before that. Yeah, there's it's almost like an iterative cycle, isn't it? Where ask some questions, get some learnings use that to inform the next part. And on and on and on. It's not do some broader change in place. It's done. Great. On we go. And that's, I think something we found interesting being with some of our customers for four plus years, is Yeah, you see how something comes in in maybe six months, it's got a lot of focus on it, and then it will drop away, then it gets picked up again and then so on and so on. And that reinforcement element is, is really important, because that's what's actually going to change behavior which you need to do to make the change stick. Otherwise, it just doesn't

Karen Kirton  23:15

know because behavior change is the hardest. Yeah. And I think that depending on the change that can be a role for coaches in this as well as we're very good at asking people. So what's the consequence? If you don't make this change? What will you feel like if you do make the change, you know, just start to get people to actually explore what's actually going on for them, as well. But yeah, it does come back to what we said originally, which is no change is constant. And it's never never going to go away completely. So it's really important to think about the different things that you might be looking to change in your workplace and yeah, what are the processes that you can take and what are the conversations that you can have with people? To try and set that up the most effective way? Yeah, yeah,

Lachy Gray  24:04

very true. So let's look at some takeaways. I think for me, being clear on the why behind the change regardless of the size, whether it is moving desks, taking the bookies away hope that wasn't UK

Karen Kirton  24:21

sure it wasn't

Lachy Gray  24:25

or much larger change programme, understanding the why using a framework like I'd car or another always has a checklist to guide a consultative approach and communication. And to ensure that we don't miss the steps especially if were running the change. We're responsible for it. We're probably way further ahead than everybody else. So if you remember that, and making sure someone's accountable, who's owning this change, who do we go to the questions and problems and making sure they've got support of senior leadership? And I think one as well for me after hearing you talk to the change curve is just acknowledging that we all interpret and process change differently. And we'll go through that change curve at different speeds. And that's okay. How about you can

Karen Kirton  25:23

Yeah, I agree with all of that. And I like your point that we've got to make sure the person that's accountable actually has support as well. Yeah, and I think for me, it's hit don't forget about the small changes, whether it's yes, topping out biscuits for fruit or even sometimes just changing the format of your team meetings can really impact on people it's, it's a sudden change. And being clear on the company goals and your purpose, being really intentional with your culture. It's going to help you with a lot of things, but it's definitely gonna help you with change as well.

Lachy Gray  25:57

For sure. So links to articles and anything else we've discussed will be over on our websites. Amplify hr.com Today, you and yahoo.com Today, you just follow the links to the podcast section. And if you've received value from this episode, we would love it if you could leave a rating or review over at Apple podcasts.

Karen Kirton  26:19

Coming up in the next episode is actually downsides to growth and we're gonna have a special guest Daryl King from Paula Seven

Lachy Gray  26:27

Awesome. Net podcast episodes come up in two weeks from now. So click the subscribe button so you'll get notified when it's available. Any final thoughts, Karen?

Karen Kirton  26:37

Just starting to think about any change process that I might have. Coming up that I haven't really thought about. Nothing like self reminder. So thanks for for sharing everything and your thoughts today Locky as well.

Lachy Gray  26:56

Likewise. Well, thanks so much for joining us, and we'll see you next time on the Make It Work podcast.

Karen Kirton  27:09

Like a well yeah. Oh my god, it's sunny out there might have to make my blind dance getting glary it'd be hard. I'll tell you something funny. I bought this jar and I thought it for the chocolates. And Elaine wasn't in here that day. So I showed her I said I'll look at I got it. She's like Oh good. You got the emergency snacks. Like she was like I was gonna bother. I was like That is so funny that you just expected that we would have chocolate

Lachy Gray  28:00

it's funny, Elvis Mark was the biggest enabler snacks and he by the got an Audi and by the date, the chocolate decks but the individual rapper. Get one but just so he didn't feel so bad. He just slide them down the desk to everyone. But there's more than one person having what he feels about us.

Karen Kirton  28:24

That's so funny. I really struggle with adding chocolate just it makes me feel unwell.

Lachy Gray  28:31

Be considering that you only use the best ingredients.

Karen Kirton  28:37

I don't know what it is about it but yeah, I used to because I like dark chocolate. Yeah. And I used to buy their dark chocolate when every time I ate it. I was like something's not good here. Yeah. All right. So I will see you this afternoon. Yes, we've got our planning for next year. Yeah, I did watch a dent thing because I've cancelled my memberships. I've had no access to everything until the end of this month. Okay, so I've been toying with it for a while. And I've just kept on thinking I've ever get to the point that I don't get value that I'm going to stop and I just got to a point I was I started getting any value anymore. One of the main reasons I'm not getting value anymore is because I quite liked their accountability groups because they had a coach that would start the session and they were really so it was really that one on one like coaching and I found that really valuable and then you would just meet as a group if you wanted to. And then you would have another session at the end. And I sent out an email at the end of August and said Are you know, because apparently only half the people are turning up to the sessions with the coach. So we're no longer going to offer it was kind of like you know, naughty naughty children. And I just thought well here we go again, like you just you don't bother to consult with your actual customers. Half the people aren't turning out but about the other half like and you know, like, yeah, you punish the ones who actually like What do you care like? Yeah, naughty children. How dare you not turn up so now everyone so that that that was the final straw for me? Yeah. And then the actual people that they've had presenting, they're just pulling out all their old KPIs. And it's I don't know they've just they've lost I think they've lost a lot of what they had. I think they've just they've tried to scale it to a point that works for them at the cost of other people. So yes, I sent an email to Rainer and said, you know, look, I'm gonna cancel at the end of September. And she wrote back and she said, could you let me know the reasons and I said are so I'm happy to have a chat. So here are a couple of things. One, you know, been doing it for two and a half years. It's repetitive now, you know, to you've moved all of the face to face out and I think that has negatively impacted the program because part of the benefit of it was actually meeting people. I'm not saying every session has to be face to face but they have nothing face to face anymore. And they do it all from 8am to 11am. So that Australia and America can be in the same time zone. So they just did this trying to scale scale, scale scale scale, right. And I said in the other component is that now that you've moved the coaches out, there's really nothing left for me. So then she wrote back and she's like, Oh, I spoke to Edith and she really liked to have a chat with you about it. Here's a calendar link can you book in a time I'm like, No, fuck you. You can book in a time with me all. So that kind of shit. Just I feel very childish with my reaction to it, but I'm just like, whatever.

Lachy Gray  32:04

I want to witness first moving ship. It's like you're gonna make an appointment to cancel.

Karen Kirton  32:10

It's like eight if I told you, whatever it was eight months ago that at that time I told you I was thinking of canceling. At no point. Have you ever reached out and said, Hey, are you still getting value? Like, go away? Yeah. So I don't know what to get into actually. Oh, I do. Can I ask you some questions? I'm asking everybody that I'm talking to. I'm trying to ask you when I'm talking to. So let me find my thing. Firstly, and then any local podcasters like actual Australian podcasters that you listen to that you think you that you think are worth listening to, from a business perspective

Lachy Gray  32:55

or listen to any audio actually

Karen Kirton  32:58

find maybe when I get my list ticket, they'll send it to you.

Lachy Gray  33:04

Yeah, yeah, that's funny. Yeah,

Karen Kirton  33:06

yeah. That out I had to find is there any kind of business media that you read or any like business chambers or network groups that you're involved in? that you think are worthwhile?

Lachy Gray  33:38

No, well, because I'm just going to start my little gray pop here. I was I miss the Entrepreneurs Organization, one RF and you would rate like that, like it's it's the accountability groups. That everyone is bought in I did is you turn up, you don't turn out then you you get fined. To everybody turns out and you're sharing your personal and your business hearts and lows, and it creates this really strong bond that you can share things and the sharing experience. I got heaps of value from that.

Karen Kirton  34:26

So why did you leave because you were there for a couple of years.

Lachy Gray  34:29

So why didn't the accelerated program which was for businesses on the whatever the couple mil Rev. Proper eo is you've got to have over a certain amount of revenue come in what it is. And so the idea was that we're trying to get more younger businesses up into it. There isn't there's only one there's a Newcastle chapter here, I think but yeah. Yeah. This there's very few of us who hubris I think there's some of these things.