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5 PART I
Powerful Beliefs
YOUR BELIEFS ABOUT CHANGE have a lot of impact on what you do. Therefore, beliefs are often more important in change than techniques. Techniques work when you think to use them. They operate situation by situation. Beliefs, on the other hand, influence your entire life and choices—what you see and don’t see. They affect whether you even think to or want to use “techniques.”
Stan, a team leader, knew three great techniques for negotiating with people who disagreed with him. But he believed that people 6 should obey authority. So even though he knew the techniques, he didn’t recognize many situations where he could use them.
A Recent History of Beliefs
Science in the latter part of the 1900s transformed our view of the world. Since the 17th century, OUR belief was that the universe could be understood and controlled by our rational mind. Scientists used to say to themselves, “Once we discover the rules, we can use them to determine our future, to shape what people do, to harness nature for ourselves.” This became the hope for organizations. “Understand how humans behave, figure out how to manage that behavior and optimize it. Then design organizations that are highly efficient and predictable. Create the perfect structure, define jobs clearly, with small jobs fitting under the larger jobs in the organization chart. Then, put rewards and consequences in place to keep things under control.” This is what management scientists used to say to themselves.
The view as we go into the 21st century is that nature, along with everything in it, isn’t as predictable in its behavior as we thought. The dream of perfect control (a kind of stability) is a pipe dream. We can’t determine what will happen in the future. We can influence it—but not in a way that gives us 100% certainty that what we want will happen. In fact, sometimes our attempts to influence things have consequences we never intended. For example:
- Executives dramatically reduce staff. This has an immediate positive impact on bottom-line performance because costs are less. But, because critical skills are lost, future innovation suffers. And lower morale reduces what other staff members contribute.
- Staff members take a “that’s not my job” view when customers call with problems. In the short run, job boundaries are protected. In the long run, dissatisfied customers go to competitors. Business declines and staffing and promotion opportunities shrink.
If we dig deeply enough, we’ll see the underlying belief in these two examples is flawed. It is the belief that we can control change by just solving the problem at hand.7
It’s time to examine this and other beliefs related to change— because we live in very complex times where even the very notion of change is changing. That’s the purpose of Part I. Use it to help you examine your beliefs and, if necessary, to modify them.
So what do you believe about change? As you read the sections that follow, reach deep into yourself to find the beliefs that really influence what you do. As you do this, know that there are two types of beliefs:
SAY beliefs: the beliefs you TALK about having
DO beliefs: the beliefs that actually DRIVE YOUR BEHAVIOR
As you think about your beliefs, notice that the beliefs you need today are not the “opposite” of yesterday’s guiding principles. Most of the time, they include an old belief and put it into a new perspective.
Before you go on, I suggest that you take the “What Is Your Empowering Belief Quotient?” self-test at the end of Part I. It will help you surface your beliefs and relate your own thoughts to the chapters that follow.
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9 Belief #1
What is ‘Normal’
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YOU ARE A BLEND of stability and change. Your genes, your history, your capabilities, all have an ongoing identity that is YOU. An organization is the same way. But you and the company you keep are also constantly changing. The trick is to change fast enough—in a way that keeps you growing and successful, without losing your own center and sanity.
Today, the pace of change is accelerating. This makes it more important to adapt to and influence change. Ironically, it also makes it more important to know and value what makes you, YOU; what makes your organization what it is today.
While change is a popular topic, so are stability topics like “vision,” “purpose,” and “core capabilities.” The irony of accelerating change is that it requires us to see change and stability as two sides of the same coin.
This parallels an amazing scientific discovery of the 20th century: we used to think that energy and matter were different things. Now we know that energy and matter are two expressions of the same thing. A particle (matter) can also be a wave (energy). Think of what happens in nuclear bombs—as small amounts of matter are suddenly broken apart to create all that energy.
10 The lesson? Each of us must be both a particle (something stable) and a wave (something changing), whether at work or at home and in the community. Neither change nor stability can exist without the other—for us personally, for us at work, or for organizations.
What are YOUR “DO” Beliefs about “What is Normal?”
If you frequently talk like this…
“I can’t wait until this is over so we can get back to business as usual.”
11 “Let’s go back to what worked for us in the past.”
Then, your beliefs may be holding you back.
Try to shift to a NEW way of thinking…
“Let’s use this old system as an anchor while we make these changes.”
“I want to stay up-to-date on the changes going on around us so I can prepare for them now.”
“I’m doing my job well today, but what about tomorrow? I want to stay up-to-date so I can be as good tomorrow as I am today.”
An old shop steward, who had been one of the most vocal resisters in an organization-wide empowerment initiative, stood in front of his peers and senior management. His words? “It’s taken me some time to realize it, but I had—and have—a lot to learn. For the first time in many years, I feel excited to come to work. But I’m retiring in six months. I only hope that others will take some risks and get more involved after I’m gone.”
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13 Belief #2
On Resistance and Negative Emotions
See Table
RESISTANCE AND EMOTIONAL RESPONSES to change are not bad. They are a signal to pay attention. They are a sign that forces are gathering to shift relationships and move NEW behaviors into the mainstream.
Think of resistance and negative emotions as “persistence energy.” They are stability’s voice crying out to test the value of a change.
Your resistance belief (Belief #2) relates to your “what is normal” belief (Belief #1). It reflects your view of the normalcy of change. When you believe that “stability is normal; change is the exception,” then resistance and negative emotions carry a lot of power. They are a fearsome force: a battle call to protect your ego, to ward off all information and pressures for change, to protect you from annihilation.
However, when you believe that “stability dancing with change is normal,” then resistance is only one voice in an important dialogue. It is neither good nor bad. It says: “Here is what it may be important to preserve.” “Here are capabilities to continue to use.” “Here are strengths I need to leverage.” “Here are essential parts of my identity to look at and bring into the future.” “Here’s a sensitive personal area, so tread softly.”
14 Your resistance and negative emotions may also be saying: “Develop something new—a new perspective, a new belief, some new capabilities.” “Get rid of some things, clean out your life and your work closet.” “Move away from some old behaviors and beliefs.” “Now is the time to challenge thinking you took for granted as a child.” “Replace old beliefs with something more vital for the future.”
In other words, your resistance and anxiety may be saying, “Now is time for you to take a step into the unknown—to take some risks!!”
For people leading change, resistance from others (including yourself) is a SIGN that something important to people is going on. It is a reminder to respect the strengths and assets that come from the past. Resistance is a call to reframe old qualities and help them serve new purposes. It contains messages about how to design a change so that it can be successful.
“When we shift into more team-focused work, we will lose our high-performing individuals,” the resistance voice says, coming from a “win-lose” belief system.
But there is a lot of good energy under this. The challenge is to create a team environment where performance is highly valued and where people are appreciated and challenged. High-performing individuals can help design it.
If you feel that you are a VICTIM OF CHANGE, resistance and negative emotions are signs to call your will into service—to become really conscious. Resistance is a response to feeling threatened. It usually starts as something subtle and unconscious—a feeling, a loss of energy, a disconnection. The natural reaction is to fight and defend, run away, or freeze and comply. You may even try doing more of what you did successfully in the past, faster, with more vigor. In other words, you’ll act as though change is “abnormal.” All of these reactions can hurt you in the long run.
On the other hand, if you believe that “resistance and negative feelings are useful signals,” you’ll see resistance and emotional reactions as wake-up calls. They are signs to appreciate what has worked in the past. But they are also signs to look with fresh eyes at what’s around you. And they may be signals to open up to doing something 15 new and getting rid of something in you that might be outmoded or dysfunctional.
Of course, resistance and negative emotions can be signs that you need to take a stand against a change. Some changes may be positive in the short term, but have net negative effects in the future. If you feel this is true, then you might decide to resist change.
There is no formula for when to decide to support or resist a change. The important thing is to explore new information and make your choice thoughtfully. Being this open and aware is pretty tough, but it’s the best course of action! To do it, you need to explore resistance and negative emotions and understand them before you act.
16 What are your “DO” Beliefs about “Resistance and Negative Emotions?”
If you frequently do things like…
React without thinking when something changes around you.
Feel inadequate and stupid when some...
