Communicating Change

When there’s a sizable change in organizations, people will react.

As managers, if we often think that our teammates need the same things we do, but if we can better understand what the individuals we work with actually need during organizational change, then even a very small targeted action can make a profound difference in that person’s work and life.

In this 9:35 video, Dr. Mark Scullard, Director of Research at Everything DiSC explains the change curve and how to communicate big changes, using the DiSC model.

Transcription

 So when you're not in the middle of a major change, right, if you're It's easy to forget how consuming it can be, but if you stop just a minute and you think back to a time when you were, let's say, um, let's say you were unsure if you're still going to have a job in a month, or there's, there's like a policy change, like everybody has to come into the office four days a week, or no one's allowed to listen to music at their desks, or, uh, HR now is saying that no one's allowed to use This is reverse psychology because the interns were getting really confused, right?

There's this whole list of unwelcome changes here that can be put upon us in the workplace. And in the abstract, you know, most of these things are like a, they're a shoulder shrug, you know, that's life. But when you're in the middle of it, it's a completely different story. This is called the change curve.

It's a way to visualize our typical human reaction to unwelcome change. So we've got this period of disorientation here where morale dips, right? And so we're managing a range of really tough emotions like confusion and frustration and insecurity. But then typically, uh, Our mindset eventually, maybe slowly, right?

It shifts back more towards reorientation. So there's this level of acceptance. We're exploring, right? We're problem solving, you know, and they can, like, you know, maybe this isn't so bad, right? Maybe, like, maybe the fact machine was holding us back. And after some period of adjustment, we reach a new normal where we've integrated the changes into our outlook and our routines.

And to be clear, This isn't for everyone with every change, but it's fairly typical adjustment process. And when there's a sizable change in an organization, right, managers and leaders, you know, we're not going to prevent this reaction. We're humans, right? This is just what we do. But what we can do is we can lessen the depth of this dip and how long it lasts.

Not to mention, also reduce the number of people who never make it up the other side here. So how do we do that? Well, one of the things we can do is be attentive to people's needs during these periods and help people meet those needs. And if we can't help, at the very least, acknowledge what those needs are.

Now, of course, one of the tricks here is that different people have different needs in the exact same situation, you know, we just need to cope in different ways. And as managers and leaders. We have this really natural tendency to just assume that people have the same needs that we do. Like, well, I just need time alone to process it.

Or, um, conversely, like, I just need to talk it through with a bunch of people. Or, I just, I just need to get out there and howl at the moon. So, those are the needs and the strategies that we automatically assume that most people must have. So what I want to do here is to take a couple of minutes and describe a way to think about how different people you lead might react and how you can best help them lessen the intensity of this dip.

And I'm going to use a personality model called DISC to help illustrate the various needs that we have in the midst of unwelcome changes like we've been talking about. So you see four quadrants here. And let's start with the D or dominant style. So these are people you know, who, you know, they're really direct, really assertive.

For these folks, when things get turned upside down, one of their first instincts is, I'm How do I restore some sense of control and agency? It's like, uh, you know, it's like, there's some group of people out there who are calling the shots here. And I need to have a voice in that conversation. And if I'm losing freedom, authority, or status, right?

I'm going to automatically look, how do I reestablish that? And, and those things that I'm losing, those things that I'm unhappy about, right? There better be a place where I can have those thoughts hurt. And similar to some of the other stuff that I was talking about, I'm going to be particularly attentive to any loss of autonomy that I have.

How, how are we going to reestablish that? And to be clear, other people in the DISC model, right, they have these needs too. It's just that they tend to be particularly pronounced here. For people with the steadiness regions, their brains often go to this very felt need for connection. Uh, I need to be able to express what I'm going through and, and really feel heard.

You know, what, what relationships are breaking because of this change? And in this new world, do I feel included? Like the, like I belong? Uh, I need to feel acknowledged and reassured and seen by someone I trust. And even if I don't use the support, Just knowing it's there makes a world of difference. And then finally, there are those attachments that I've made to not only people, but to my environment, to my routines.

Those, those are being torn away, right? It just, everything feels like it's, it's foreign. How do I, I reestablish that sense of familiarity? And what can be so useful about this map is knowing that other people in other regions of the disk circle can They do also have needs like this, like getting emotional support.

It's just that they might be less consciously aware of them because they're, they're simply not used to thinking in these terms. There is this really strong need here for stability and safety. And so oftentimes it's simply looking to some way to gain some confidence that things are gonna work out because right now like that is not at all clear to me.

All right, and in this fog of change. How do I reestablish some sense of predictability in my world? Like, you know, it's like, what projects am I going to be working on next month? Like that robot AI thing still, who's my boss going to be? Like that robot AI thing still, right? Oftentimes for these people, one of the strongest needs is to have some time and some space and freedom from pressure.

to adjust in their own way, not necessarily at the pace that I'm being told that I need to adjust. And then finally, the C region in particular, right, it often has this really strong need for information and understanding. And of course, almost all of us have this needs, but leaders need to realize that for some people, this need is really pronounced.

Like, What exactly are these new systems and expectations that we're dealing with here, right? I want to know the plan for getting us back to a place of normal. And particularly in this CD or DC range, where there's like a lot of skepticism. I need you to give me a solid justification for all of this pain that's being inflicted, right?

The logic behind these decisions, right? And it better be airtight and transparent. It better not involve irrelevant factors or short sightedness or politics or an amulet of any sort. I want as much information as possible. about what's going on behind the scenes in large part so I can prepare myself and regain some semblance of control over what's coming next.

So pulling back, you're not a therapist. You're not expected to be able to meet all of those needs. And for some, you know, it's, it's not even in your power. The, the main message that I want to get across here is that different people are going to have very different needs in the exact same situation and you know, the same person, right?

They're going to have different needs in different change situations. As leaders and managers, we need to be mindful that what we instinctively think people should need. It's not actually always what they really need. And if you do have the bandwidth, this is a really nice little cheat sheet here for things to be on the lookout for.

And then if you have access to everything disc on catalyst platform, you can actually look people up and get a sense of not only where they fall on disc, but you can also look and get some cool comparisons of how the two of you might look differently at the world. Because Ultimately, if you can understand what someone actually needs in a crossroads time like this, then even a, a very small targeted action can make a really profound difference in that person's life.