BOCA RATON, FLA. — You’re inevitably going to change your business. From full-size vans to box trucks, from T&M to Flat Rate pricing, to completely different accounting software. As much as change is inevitable, so is the fact that you’ll have to drag your employees along kicking and screaming.
Jerry Jellison, a professor of social psychology at the University of Southern California, gave contractors practical advice on how to handle change at the Mechanical Service Contractors of America convention here.
There will always be people willing to change, Jellison noted. They are your allies. Most people are apprehensive and uncomfortable. They’re confused. They believe it will make more work for them. They fear the loss of whatever it is about the status quo that they enjoy.
Performance follows a J-curve over time during a change with performance dropping, bottoming out and eventually rising higher than it was at the start of the process. The time it takes for this to play out depends on what you’re trying to do. Jellison has seen the introduction of Lean into a manufacturing plant take seven years. Sometimes you have to take baby steps.
At the beginning there is fear, anger and self-doubt — “I won’t be able to do this.” “This will never happen.” “So I guess the way we’ve been doing it has been all wrong.” They fear financial loss, the loss of autonomy, more work and an onerous learning curve.
The most difficult thing will be to initiate the change and get over that emotional cliff. “In the face of uncertainty, people imagine monsters under the bed,” Jellison said.
At some point you’ll have to make the Change Speech. Describe what you’re doing, why it’s necessary, acknowledge the challenges, note that you’re committed to doing this, lay out your strategic plan, promise your support to your employees and finish with a brief pep talk. There will be leaders who look forward to change and followers who are concerned with the present and their self-preservation. The leaders are your allies. Jellison suggested finding one key resister who can influence others and win him over.
Stage two: you institute the change and performance drops. Expect it. It always does. The resisters say, “I told you so, I knew this was a mistake, it’ll only get worse.”
Stage three: you turn the corner. The number of mistakes drop and the successes increase. It’s probably difficult for your people to see signs of change even as you bottom out. They says things such as, “This is just luck.” “At least I’m not failing every time.” “Maybe I can kind of sort of do this.”
Stage four: confidence takes over. The crew says things like, “We can deal with this.”
Stage five: the mastery stage. Performance is way better than when you started. Then your people say, “Why did we wait so long?”
Jellison cautioned the contractors about trying too much all at once. For one thing, your people will adapt at different rates. Some may be at stage five while others are stuck back at stage three.
You may want to institute a transformational change. An example of that is Ray Grimm rebranding his contracting firm as Air.Water.Energy. See Air.Water.Energy. — go big or go home and Why Ray Grimm of A.W.E. rebranded his contracting firm.
“Transformational change is made up of a whole series of incremental changes,” Jellison said. Toyota has learned that through its Lean process and honors reaching new plateaus along the way. You may have multiple J-curves. So while it’s tempting to make a bunch of changes all at once to get it over with, it may be more practical to take your time and not overwhelm your people. Focus on one change initiative, then one project in that initiative, then the first phase of that project, then the first step of the first phase.
“Resistance to change is emotional,” Jellison said. “You can’t rationalize it.”
Make it safe to make mistakes. Coach your people to help them. Front load the rewards. Empathize with their negative reactions. If they say, “This will never work,” reply, “Well, it may not. I’ve had some crazy ideas before, but let’s give this one a try.”
Don’t threaten. That might create a behavior change but it won’t change how they think. If an employee continues to resist, don’t come at them with a 30,000-ft. approach by saying something like they are “rigid.” Say exactly what you want them to do and in what circumstances.
Don’t forget the rewards. Tell them if you do this, then you will get this reward. Or for purposes of accountability and measurement of results, say “if and only if” you do this, then you get the reward.