Change: Friend or Foe?

A whole industry has been put into place to manage change within the workplace including many variations on the theme of change management practitioners. Current thinking would tell us that being able to adapt to change is an important skill but a recent LinkedIn discussion asked an important question: "How much change is too much?"

Some time ago I came across this validated stress test by Holmes and Rahe that taught me a great deal about change and how it affects our stress levels. It was an eye opener at the time but I have increased in my appreciation for this tool as I have studied and learned more on this subject. For those of you who may not be familiar with it here is a copy:

http://www.testandcalc.com/richard/resources/Teaching_Resource_Holmes_and_Rahe_Social.pdf

So what have I learned about the relationship between change and stress?

1. ALL change carries with it some level of stress. Stress is not just an emotional reaction but it is the body adjusting to varying levels of change. Who would have thought that an outstanding personal accomplishment or a holiday would carry with it stress points on the stress scale? Are these not positive events?

2. Some level of stress is necessary for us to live and to work. It is stress that gets us up in the morning, that has us set goals ahead, that sees us wanting to start new projects.

3. Change induced stress becomes the more difficult to manage if there is a lack of personal control over events or situations or even a perception of a lack of control. This point has major implications for those given responsibility for change management processes within organizations. The more that management and/or staff perceive that change is outside of their control and that they are mere puppets, the greater the level of stress involved.

4. The greater the personal investment, the higher the level of consequent stress when change occurs. It is understandable that the death of a loved one brings the most significant level of stress but it also applies that those who consider they have invested themselves wholeheartedly in their work role will feel the greatest threat and stress when that role is under review or signalled for adjustments.

5. Our bodies need time to adjust to stress and so the greater number as well as depth of stressors in our lives, the longer it takes for our body to regulate itself. For example, when making a single change such as to a new town or even country we need to take into account all the ensuing changes. We change our environment, our food, our friends, our work, our social activities among other things. Each change, even though they may seem small in nature, place a degree of stress on our bodies. Just try to purchase health insurance when you travel and the horrendous cost that entails. This is partly because so many people become ill while on holiday, directly induced as a result of the stress of all the changes that holidays bring. (This does not mean that we should not go on holiday but merely that we need to be mindful to take care of ourselves.) Stress management studies have shown that if stress is not reduced or at least managed effectively that we are more likely to be ill and if we do not listen to the signals that our bodies are under stress we may suffer increasing levels of ill health even to the point of death.

6. In an opposite sense, a sound and good routine that underpins our lives in whatever circumstances and wherever we live helps to mitigate the levels of stress. Routines send a message that at least part of life is under control and not subject to the whims and fancies of circumstances around us. A routine may include getting up regularly at around the same time, exercise, quiet reflection time or a particular day of rest.

7. Have you ever wondered how those people who have a constant stream of stressors in their lives seem to cope admirably? There is another secret in this that goes along with what we have already discussed. When stress is constant then it becomes predictable and therefore more manageable. If you are being bombarded by change but it is coming at a fast and furious pace at a constant rate then the body has received a signal to arm itself. On the other hand if change is intermittent then the body is 'surprised' by the changes each time and has had little time to steel itself and roll with those changes.

The key concept underlying much of what we are discussing here is the concept of control over our circumstances. There are as many stress management programs out there as there are sheep in New Zealand so this blog is not about providing detailed advice in this area but more to provoke questions about how to plan and manage change at both an individual and organizational level by taking into account the levels of stress being produced. Change managers would also do well to consider looking at the stress levels in the lives of each individual in the organization, not simply as it relates to the workplace but life-wide stresses to determine those staff most at risk of suffering as a result of the changes.  

A second key concept is the use of the word "perception" because if we are looking out for change as a positive thing in our lives then we are gearing our bodies up to take change in our stride and to expect to have to adjust. There is a certain measure of self-control, of self-determination in this process which automatically reduces the level of stress being experienced.

None of us are infallible however and it is impossible to predict every occurrence. We live a dangerous life when we constantly bombard ourselves with change without taking measures to safeguard our health and emotional well-being, without reading the signs when we are seriously suffering from stress.

Change is both an enemy and a vital friend to the body.  I love the sea but I respect it and acknowledge its power. Stress for me is similar. I embrace change as healthy to remain flexible, to increase personally enriching experiences but I recognize and acknowledge the power of change to induce great stress. In the face of great change in my life I realize I need to plan to mitigate and/or reduce stress. I guess it is off to the multitude of stress management material online for me. 

You don't have to be wrong in order for me to be right

We appear to live in a world of absolutes, of solutions that are expressed as simple and measurable. I am not sure what happened to make the world so black and white. For all our battles for various freedoms it certainly feels as if we as a society have actually become less tolerant of differing viewpoints.  There is a tendency for many in our society to range themselves on either side of a great divide and to hurl personal abuse at the perceived opposition because they have attached themselves to a particular viewpoint or way of thinking. While it is understandable in a mock debate to take sides and argue vociferously for our point of view in order to have victory, real life situations are seldom so simplistic.

Why do we have such a desire to label everything and to confine our judgements of people and organizations into a well-defined and very small box? Perhaps there is a measure of security in defining something so clearly as to eliminate all dispute. I have noticed a plethora of measuring tools on the consultancy market since I have moved to the United States and these tools seek to explain, to define, to measure down to the finest detail. Explanations make us feel safe and are designed to instill confidence in our decisions and our choices and even better still if there is a beautiful looking chart just to prove it. (Mind you I love a good looking chart.)

Now I am not decrying psychological tests or nifty measuring tools at all but merely suggesting that we are in danger of looking for the easy way out to come up with the 'right' answers, that we are not looking at a wide variety of qualitative as well as quantitative data. Part of the problem is the belief in the black and white assumptions that everything and every decision is either "right" or "wrong". What happened to the principle that there are a number of rights possible? I would respectfully suggest that in our desire to simplify our choices we may miss out on the richness of having a variety of possible routes to success.

I almost began to fall into this myself but have you noticed the number of postings on LinkedIn recently that begin with "5 steps to....." or "7 ways to.....". The message is clear, just follow these simple steps and all your problems will be solved. I confess that these kind of headings are attractive because they promise something quick and easy to remember and apply. I am drawn to their simplicity and I want to know how to get that simple solution. However, where have the consultancy/change management/coaching etc processes gone that involve great analysis work to understand the underlying issues. Whether as a consultant or as a manager within an enterprise there is a real skill in being able to look at a wide range of data to form the basis of our recommendations and decisions.

I heard a fascinating marketing story about a North American manufacturer wanting to market a soap powder to the Arabian market. A top marketing firm in the USA was engaged to come up with a marketing campaign for this soap powder and set about doing their homework: what color of packaging would attract the buyer, what kind of straight forward message would most succeed? The marketing firm came up with a very straightforward concept that appeared to have all the hallmarks of success. On the left of the page was a picture of a woman holding dirty clothing. She is seen to dip the clothing into the solution containing the new product (found in the center of the page) and then finally to the right, she is seen to take out a sparkling clean piece of clothing. Unfortunately, the marketing campaign failed and there was no increase in market share for this product. The marketers were sent in to make an analysis and they made changes, to the color and to the wording but all to no avail. Finally, these American marketing specialists were exasperated and decided to seek out the advice of marketers based in one of the Arabic countries. They took one look at the campaign and this was their assessment:


The colors were great, the wording was wonderful but there was a fundamental flaw in the presentation. Arabic is read from right to left! If you were a house wife in the middle east would you buy a cleaning product that turned your clean clothes into dirty ones? The marketers had made a basic oversight and had made decisions based on their own paradigms rather than trying to reflect the paradigms of those receiving the service.

These were two different viewpoints and yet both actually valid in their respective contexts. When we can understand that our viewpoints are not the only 'correct' ones then we will open ourselves to a richer, more lucrative field because we will be able to have a bow with multiple strings.