Last month, two of my coaching clients had questions for me on navigating change. Emily was Hong Kong based, and moving into a global management position. Scott lived in China, and was asked to spearhead a global merger from Shanghai. Both were high performers, worked in entirely different industries — and called me the same week, a day apart with almost identical concerns. That was odd enough to dig further.
When I’d spoken with Scott, he first mentioned “I can’t believe it — we’re going through another restructure.” With Emily, it was “I can’t believe it — I’ve finally landed the perfect role.” She’d been promoted every two years, and thus familiar with leadership transitions. Scott had led previous mergers, and recognized the potential chaos which could ensue. Both were excited with their new targets, both caught up in the emotional upheavals of change, embarking on their next career phase. They’d been through similar situations and didn’t anticipate too many problems, but were calling for help.
Whether a new role or restructure, it’s never as straightforward as expected. Emily and Scott’s organizations had designed processes to lead change with frameworks, detailed plans, levers to pull, steps to follow. Their respective company’s focus was the process side of change, but little on EQ or the more (hard-boiled) political side of resistance. With every change, there are real — or perceived — imbalances of power. The functional and the personal.
Their questions made me think about how we all try to manage change for ourselves — and others. Kurt Lewin designed a three stage model in the late 1940’s, and in 1995, John Kotter added eight more steps for leading change. They’d both provided a planned approach, a check-list of sorts to keep the status-quo while pushing through change. Lewin was criticized for overlooking the political and power dynamics of change, and Kotter’s more prescriptive model appeared machine-like. Both seem to miss the human side — the feelings and experiences of the employee in a time of turmoil.
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