5 ways to get a reputation for handling change

Posted by Sarah Hobbs

Change is a massive part of organisational life. Therefore, you need to be good at helping your organisation manage change, to achieve career success. Over 15 years of managing change at graduate to Director levels, I’ve learned 5 key lessons about how reputations can be made and destroyed by the way people handle change.

1. Rein in your critical faculties. Make sure your first reaction to change is not to bring your full powers of critical analysis to bear on destruct-testing the proposed solution! Clever people sometimes reduce their influence by leaping prematurely into a critique that sets them up as an opponent. You might be right in your instant analysis. First seek to understand – then to be understood. You’ll be more influential if you ask questions about what the objective of the change is, and say something that establishes you as a potential supporter. “That does seem an important problem to solve, yes.” Take it gently, ask questions and summarise, so that you’ve shown that you understand the problem and the thinking behind the solution. Work on the basis that they might have already considered your challenges. Not “But that would have a really bad impact on xyz” – instead “I’m wondering about the impact on xyz – what’s your thinking on that?” Once you’ve listened and asked questions, you’ve earned the right to challenge.
   
   
2. Change is easier to influence from the inside. If you don’t embrace a change and you see it as problematic – you can get labelled as being a “problem”. If you have issues with the change that’s being implemented, the best course of action is to get involved and to help shape it. If you’re on the outside it will be done “to” you – if you’re on the inside you can influence it and change it for the better, or understand it and help to make the best of it. You’ll also get a reputation as a ‘can do’ person – which might put you in a more powerful position to influence future change.
   
   
3. Learn how to implement change. Early on in my career I went on a training course in change management. My biggest takeaway – that I still think about 12 years later – is that when you do something new in an organisation, it’s only successful when the people who need to adopt it, actually do adopt it. You can have the best plan, system or improvement – but if you can’t win people over to it, it all counts for nothing. You need to get good at engaging people in change by talking with them; finding out about their issues, and understanding why they think it may not work. Don’t just sweep issues under the carpet: get people involved properly.
   
   
4. React to people where they are, not where they should be. When people are complaining or being negative about your particular change, don’t react to them negatively yourself – react positively to where they are now rather than being frustrated that they are not immediately on-board. Also, consider the culture you’re putting the change into – some people react less out of an emotional reaction and respond instead from a deep-seated cultural position. When people hear about change, they go through an emotional process before they accept it – bear that in mind when working out how to manage the reaction.
   
   
5. Get good at making the case. If people can see there is a strong enough reason for it, even those who most dislike the change that you’re planning to implement will eventually get to a point where they tolerate it. With that in mind you need to be really clear about why you’re doing it. It’s a well-known phrase, but always identify the “burning platform” – why are you doing this? – and at the end make sure everyone can see that’s what you’ve delivered against.

The Take Away
Your approach to change is a critical part of your reputation. Career success will come faster if you gain a reputation for being open-minded and constructive about change. Think about a change you need to influence:

1. Could I have more influence if I delayed my critical thinking?
2. Do I need to be involved to have influence?
3. Who do I need to get fully engaged, to make this change happen?
4. Am I seeing the situation from their point of view?
5. Am I making the best case for why we are doing this?