by Dawn-Marie Turner, PhD, CMC

“People don’t like change.” I probably hear this statement at least once a week. Unfortunately, it perpetuates the thinking that people will try to avoid change. The reality is quite the opposite. Change is an essential part of our living experience. We change to live. But we don’t live to be changed. When you understand this difference, you can use the stress of change as a potential energy source.

Hans Seyle originally defined stress in the 1930s. He identified it as a biological and psychological response or condition brought on by events outside of the person, such as a marriage, a divorce, getting a new job or losing a job.

Stress is often characterized in terms of “good” (eustress) and “bad” (dis-stress). This view of stress limits its potential as a catalyst for enabling change in your organization. To unlock your organization’s change energy you need to shift your thinking away from stress as an end state toward stress as an energy source. As energy, stress is needed to ignite and propel your change forward. 

by Dawn-Marie Turner, PhD

Change fatigue may be one of the biggest challenges organizations face. And in my opinion, it may be more detrimental to an organization's ability to implement change than some of the currently held views on "resistance".

Research estimates that 46 per cent of organizations are attempting to implement three or more major changes simultaneously. This number may actually be too low. I have talked with many organizations that tell me they have at least five—and a few that say they have more than 20—changes underway. It is no wonder that with this much change people are feeling a little tired.

Change is not going away. Now more than ever, change has become a part of the business landscape. To survive and preferably, to thrive, organizations must change. The great irony for organizations is that the very thing they need—change—also creates the greatest risk for the organization. In this era of constant change, identifying and preventing change fatigue is critical.

by Dawn-Marie Turner, PhD

In part one of this article I shared the benefits of using a change management methodology. In this article, I will share how combining the intangible people side of change with the concrete organizational elements of change can increase the value of your change management methodology. Successful change leaders understand the underlying dynamics of change. They have learned it is not enough simply to move through the steps of a methodology. 

Change has two distinct dimensions. One dimension is the change event. The change event is visible and concrete, with a defined beginning and end. Some of the activities of managing the change event include, creating a vision or intended outcome, documenting processes, establishing a change management team, and implementing training. The other dimension is what I call the white space. The white space is intangible and internal to the individual. It has a less defined beginning and end. Some of the activities associated with this dimension include, enabling the conversations of change and facilitating the change process.