subject: Modification Management - Harnessing The Energy [print this page] Traditional approaches to alter management are based mostly around the principles of Newtonian physics and in specific the three laws of motion which, broadly stated, recommend that things don't change until an external force is applied; that the rate of modification is proportional to the force applied and inversely proportional to the scale of the organisation, and that for every action applied there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Contrary, but, to the current comforting ancient Newtonian world-view of mounted scientific certainties and universal laws that are predictable and replicable, contrary to our societal and cultural belief systems, we have a tendency to now grasp through the insights and perspectives of quantum physics, that the universe [and everything in it] could be a single gigantic field of energy.
This energy field is an undivided whole during a constant state of dynamic flux. Maybe even more disturbingly, from this has emerged the understanding that everything is interconnected as half of that whole. Leaving aside the science, this interconnection is additionally increasingly and disturbingly apparent in the global political, economic, environmental and technological scale and forces of amendment, and the speed at which they take place.
Thus it seems that the sages of the major world philosophical and non secular traditions were right when all. We have a tendency to live in an exceedingly world of constant modification - a "dynamic flux of interconnection". Unfortunately, most folks are not very well equipped to accommodate this reality.
Insights gained in the sector of quantum physics go even any and suggest that every manifestation of "bogged down energy" that seems within the physical world as a "tangible something" remains at a sub atomic level simply as energy. So masses can be considered fundamentally energy beings.
From this attitude we tend to are energy beings functioning in an surroundings that is an energy field. Therefore change management and motivating folks to reply constructively to alter is basically all to do with energy. In practical terms this implies energising, enthusing or inspiring people. Therefore we are really talking concerning the importance of emotions.
Themes that are rising in the sphere of modification management are increasingly reflecting the necessity to retort to and harness this energy dimension - and specifically by stressing the importance of emotional connection.
To require a couple of brief examples of thought leaders in the planet of leadership and change management:
(one) Jon Katzenbach
One of Katzenbach's themes is individuals's anxiety over modification can be eased by the skilful transformational leader's ability to tune in to such considerations and take them seriously.
In "Peak Performance: Aligning The Hearts and Minds in your Employees", Katzenbach observes that the leaders of high performing corporations create strong emotional bonds with their employees, through which they transmit positive emotions about the challenges being faced and destination being worked towards. Katzenbach argues that the key to encouraging people is via inspirational motivation that has a lot of to try and do with working out how to connect them emotionally to their work than throwing cash or promotions at them. Key actions include:
?Tapping into positive emotions
?Managing one-on-one
?Avoiding force
?Aligning one's self with others
(2) John Kotter
A key theme of Kotter's famous eight Step Amendment Model, and a recurring theme in recent interviews is the necessity to ascertain and maintain a way of urgency around the need for amendment that runs deep throughout the organisation. Kotter suggests that for a change initiative to achieve success, seventy five% of a corporation's management desires to support the change.
In 'Creating Change Real - The Heart of Amendment: Real-Life Stories of How People Amendment Their Organizations', John Kotter [with co author Dan Cohen] says that the one biggest challenge facing leadership in a amendment process is just getting folks to vary their behaviour, and that's achieved by coping with the emotional dimension:
"During our lives we have a tendency to have been taught to over-rely on what you might call the memo approach - the nineteen logical reasons to alter - and we've beneath-relied on what Dan Cohen and I found is a lot of additional effective, which is presenting something that is emotionally compelling. Folks amendment their behaviour once they are motivated to do therefore, and that happens when you speak to their feelings."
Clearly, leading and managing organisational amendment is all concerning creating and transmitting energy, and emotions are significantly dynamic expressions of energy. Folks are motivated when they are inspired. For people to be impressed means that, literally suggests that, to own life and energy breathed into them. Does one as a change leader inspire your individuals?
