Targeting Change
Do you match the way you foster change with the reactions people have toward it? When people react favorably to change, stress is decreased and readiness-to-implement increased.
Of course, many different reactions are possible. People might be confused about what needs to be done differently. If they are, and you try to target change dead-on-center too quickly, then employee stress increases and readiness to implement decreases.
Fight / flight is a reaction characterized by perceived risk and confusion. It’s also characterized by high levels of employee stress and low readiness-to-implement. How do you know if people in your organization are in the fight/flight reaction? Does it happen for everyone? In pockets? For particular individuals? With limited economies-of-scale, it can be wasteful to take a single approach to address what you think might be the fight/flight reaction. It can be even worse to presume that perceived risk or confusion are lower than they actually are. That’s a lot of arrows to fire. None were on target and your quiver is limited, is it not?
Our Reaction Reflector identifies three reactions to change and one potent moderator of the intent to implement change. The three reactions are: (1) The urge to test parts of a change (2) the level of confusion about a change and (3) the fight/flight reaction toward change. The Reaction Reflector tests for these reactions and our evidenced-based consulting shifts them toward intent-to-implement. How?
Our research has shown that when people perceive benefit in a change, other reactions are moderated and they become much more likely to implement. People can’t be told a change will be good for them, however. Our unique methodologies help people experience aspects of your change that maximize the personal benefit they perceive. Perceived personal benefit is the key to hitting implementation targets on center and on time.
Contact us for a sample group of Reaction Reflector assessments. We’ll help you interpret the results help you better understand the benefit we can bring to your change effort.