The View from the Top

A few years back, I spent ten days in Scotland attending a conference with 50 other trainers.  The October weather was cold, windy and rainy, so we all spent much of our time working indoors.  By the fourth day, missing Malaysian sunshine, I developed cabin fever and needed a long walk.  I put on boots and raingear and headed for the hill behind our venue.

As I trudged upwards, the rain subsided and gave way to breezy, cloudy skies.  It seemed for a moment that the sun would actually break through, but before I knew it, I found myself in the rain again.  From the time I began walking to the time I reached the top of the hill, the weather had changed a dozen different times.

It wasn’t until I reached the summit, however, and turned to see the valley spread out before me that I got the big picture.  All over the valley, different areas were experiencing different weather patterns depending on the position of the clouds above.  A patch of sunshine would move across the valley floor giving way to more rain.  A windy patch would blow through the trees for miles before dying out.  A field full of grazing sheep would get soaked under a passing shower. 

From my perspective climbing from the bottom of the hill, all of these changes were happening to me alone.  From my view at the top, however, I could see how the moving clouds affected changes in the weather throughout the whole valley.

Change management in your organization works the same way.  From your view at the top, you can see how changes that you initiate or respond to are going to affect, and maybe even benefit, different parts of your organization.  From the bottom, however, the view is different.  Your staff experiences the change without the benefit of the big picture.  For them, change means disruption in the familiar environment, disturbances in routine schedules, and stressful adaptation to the unfamiliar.  It’s no wonder that change is often met with resistance.

Ultimately, organizational change is about people and that’s why your prime consideration needs to be the impact of the change upon your staff.  To help you change their resistance to acceptance, remember to keep them informed and updated.  Highlight benefits and success, but be honest with bad news as well.  Your enthusiasm for the change will be infectious, so be a model for dedication and get complete investment from your senior management as well. 

Delegate responsibilities to the staff most affected by the change to guarantee investment and ownership.  And most importantly, keep the channels for feedback wide open to allow honest communication back and forth between you and your staff so you can monitor the impact of the change.

It’s easier to see patches of sunshine from the top than it is while standing in the rain at the bottom.  For the benefit of your people, keep this in mind when you plan you change initiatives.