Coping with challenges of change management

Q: I am in dire need of help as my “honeymoon” period of 100 days as a new manager is now over. The first one month was nice; there were lots of ‘open arms’ and ‘smiles’ in the office but I am now beginning to face the shocking truth that there is great reluctance among the people here in accepting my leadership. I also feel that there is a kind of ‘silent rebellion’ going on here where they are deliberately not toeing the line to the many things that I have introduced to shape things up. They are moving at a slow pace to implement some of these initiatives even though they know that the ’stale air’ in here needs to be ventilated with ‘more freshness’. I don’t know what I should do now. 
Unappreciated 

A: I am sure you acted with good purpose to try to make things better in your organisation. However, you need to watch out for your overzealousness in carrying out your change programme too soon and probably too fast, too. People need time to get used to changes, whether good or bad ones. However, you need not worry too much as a good leader will always have the courage and resilience to bounce back. So wake up to regain your composure in order to get your bearing right again. 

The Bottom Line: In this next phase, tell yourself that you are going to take your people along with you on the change journey. Tell yourself that your ‘Rambo’ days of doing it alone are over. 
Never underestimate your people and get them on your side one way or another. Practice open leadership by sharing openly with them on what you want to do and ask them sincerely for their support and in the process, deal with any reservations or concerns that they may have. Once done, discuss how each one of them can specifically play their part to contribute. Find things that they can do where their strengths can be leveraged on. Meet their needs while at the same time get them to meet yours, too. Once done, you are a team in unison. Life will be so exciting from then on. 

Powerful Questions: 
What do you want to see happenฌing in your organisation? 
What do you want them to do to show their support to you? 
What is the current situation? 
What will change it to meet your vision? 
DEALING WITH CONFLICTS 
Q: I am feeling the strain of the conflict situation in my workplace, as it appears to be nearing a dangerous level. There is an apparent increase in yelling among the people, with some of them distancing from each other, and it has been for a while now. I feel increasingly irritated with the situation, as it is not conducive to work here. However, the funny thing is that I am not sure whether this is normal or that it is serious and requires some quick actions. Why I say this is that we are still ‘strangely’ meeting our targets and generally, the clients are happy with our services. But I am afraid that things may get out of hand if I do not do anything? 
Cross Fire 

A: In my view a mild degree of conflict in the workplace is a healthy sign, which shows that people care about their work and their organisation. If there was none, then this may indicate that there could be apathy, lack of interest, boredom, insecurity to share and low esteem in your people. From this perspective, it appears that yours is not suffering from this. However, if there is too much conflict occurring then it could mean that there is no clear purpose, no ground rules, improper decisionmaking or even the conflict resolution process in the workplace. 

The Bottom Line: It will be good to act as a very objective facilitator whenever there are conflicts to resolve. In this way you will be able to nip all conflicts in the bud so that they do not escalate into something bigger. Use the facilitation techniques of ‘hold, hear and heal’. Firstly, create or ‘hold’ a safe space for people to express themselves while you ‘hear’ deeply everyone on what they want to pour out to you. 
When all is heard, it is time to ‘heal’ where you appeal to them to soften their stand, seek compromise and find common grounds for them to agree. Use this technique whenever you play the facilitator role in all conflict situations. I am sure you will be able to keep things under control a lot more.

Powerful Questions: 
How do you currently handle conflict situations? 
Is it achieving the results you want? 
What could be missing? 
What do you need to work on yourself to be a good facilitator? 

Michael Heah is an ICF Master Certified Coach. He provides personal coaching services and also coach certification programmes. Check him out at www.corporatecoachacademy.com or email at [email protected]