| Subject: Week 1 - Final Thoughts |
Author:
Dennis
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: Tuesday, June 01, 10:29:22am
Congratulations, we have finished the first week of our online training. You guys hit on some key points in relation to change, its effects, and how we can encourage this process with our staff. The following are some comments by a professor of mine in relation to this topic. I feel they give a good summary of what we have been talking about.
My key takeaways from the readings are:
1. you have to end before you can begin
2. between the ending and beginning, there is a gap
3. that gap can be creative
4. transition is an opportunity to develop
5. transition is a source of renewal
6. people go through transition at different speeds
7. most organizations do not allow enough time for people to work through their transitions. This "transition deficit" explains the high failure rate of many change initiatives
1. What's my role? Being proactive about change is an aspect of being a "reflective practitioner." A term coined by Donald Schon, the reflective practitioner in any field is one who is attentive to what action teaches. Think of it as a variant of participatory research in which you are both agent and client. That means that you do not settle for the surface interpretation of any event, situation, or problem. You are curious for the "full picture," "the deeper meaning," and the "real reasons."
2. What is really going on here? This question comes from the work of Robert Terry, an organizational leadership expert. It is a question that encourages you to scan a situation again and again, keeping alert to the range of factors and forces involved, the webs of relationships among stakeholders, and the interdependencies among the parts of the system in which a problem exists or is manifested.
3. How are people feeling? Both Bridges and Jick emphasize the affective dimension of change, and Jinks is clear about the risks of ignoring people's emotions during times of change. No matter how reasonable you are - the data are impeccable, the options clear, and the action plan well-tuned - what you are proposing is going to cost something emotionally both from those who will benefit and those who will lose. "A better way of doing our work" is a reasonable argument for changing a business practice, but it means someone is going to have to change a routine he or she knows while risking not doing the "new way" right! This doesn't mean change agents become therapists; it does imply that change agents consider ways in which emotions get acknowledged and addressed as a plan of action goes forward. (Klimoski 2004)
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 