Leading Effectively e-Newsletter - January 2009

Tips for Managing Change: A Conversation with Chris Musselwhite

Change may be good or bad. It might be viewed as much needed or to be avoided at all costs. Sometimes small changes cause strong negative reactions; other times big change is welcomed. Christopher Musselwhite — consultant and creator of the Change Style Indicator — says our collective confusion about the value of change is tied to three individual perspectives: preference, process and proximity.

He explained about the 3 P's and change preferences in a recent interview with CCL.

Why do people respond so differently to change?

A large part of your response is driven by preference for change. In my research, I've found there really are cognitive differences in how people view change. People frame it differently, analyze it differently and have different emotional responses. A lot of that is personality and preference.

But other factors have a say in your reactions as well. If you have been through the process of change many times and had life experiences (even if very difficult) that gave you a positive view of change, facing change may not be particularly scary or worrisome to you. But if change in your life is consistently tied to negative things, it is understandably more difficult to embrace change.

The factor of proximity will also magnify or diminish your change response. The closer you are to the epicenter of change — if you will be directly affected — the more your identity is connected to the change.

Explain about the preferences people have.

How people deal with change - both creating it and responding to it - is a function of identifiable individual preferences. It's helpful to think of our preferences on a continuum of conservers to originators, with the pragmatists holding the large middle ground.

Conservers are people who view change primarily as a danger. In times of change they appear deliberate, disciplined and focused. They are good at defining and clarifying current reality and prefer a well-defined structure. To create improvements, conservers prefer to make gradual changes and work within existing systems.

On the opposite end, the originators like to challenge current structures and systems. They enjoy taking risks and tend to focus on new possibilities, vision and direction. They are action-minded but may not be effective implementers.

Pragmatists tend to focus on getting the job done. They often see merit in the perspectives of both conservers and originators and are motivated to find solutions.

Using the Change Style Indicator, I've been able to gather data on more than 100,000 people. With two-thirds of the results analyzed, I've found that about 25 percent of the general population are conservers and another 25 percent are originators; the rest are pragmatists.

How is this information about change style most helpful to individuals? How can it be helpful in organizations?

Understanding your own preferences is very helpful just in understanding your own feelings and behaviors in times of change. Then you are able to create routines or seek support that allows you to process the change and adapt.

It's also important for building teams. For example, if I'm really a strong originator, I need some strong pragmatists and conservers to work with — and I need to know not to ignore or marginalize them.

When teams come together, use the Change Style Indicator tool and talk about their preferences, it can also open up everyone's eyes to why the team functions the way it does. Often conflict in teams can be connected to tension between the three change styles. But the differences that you struggle with can become assets if you know how to manage them.

How do effective leaders manage these differences?

First, be careful not to throw the labels around unless you're taking time to understand change styles as a group. It's helpful to have the concept in your head, to use for your own thinking. You can ask questions of yourself such as: How am I responding? Might Joe be reacting to me from a conserver mindset? I wonder if we can get an originator perspective in here?

When you better understand people you have on your team, or the people you work with, you can orchestrate change processes with more finesse. For example, if you manage a project team, early on you have to have good originators. You want to consider all possibilities. Over time, you'll rely more on the pragmatists and the conservers. Throughout the process, all perspectives are represented; it's just a question of where to put the emphasis.

Preference for Change
When facing change ...

Learn more about the Change Style Indicator and the dynamics of change:

• View the CCL Webinar Anatomy of Change: What's Your Style? featuring Dr. Christopher Musselwhite.
• Visit Dr. Musselwhite's Web site: www.discoverylearning.com

Christopher Musselwhite founded Discovery Learning in 1990 and is currently the president and CEO. The organization has a broad range of international expertise in human resource and organizational development. Chris has created and published seven business simulations and seven assessment tools, including the well-known Change Style Indicator. He is the author of Dangerous Opportunity: Making Change Work.