leading change

Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D.www.bretlsimmons.com

Training for Nevada Department of Health and

Human Services

Leading Change

Agenda• 9 am. Session 1: Leadership• 10:15 am. Break• 10:30 am. Session 2: Progress Principle• Noon – Lunch• 1 pm. Session 3: Switch• 2:30 pm. Break• 2:45 pm. Session 4: Organizational Citizenship• 3:45 pm. Wrap-up

Primary Sources

Changes I need to make

• Sheet in the back of your handout• Add two items after each session• Prioritize top two in wrap-up session• When you return to work

– Apply the change formula you will learn today– Invite accountability– Make continual improvement a habit

Exercise 1

How do you recognize good leadership?

Leadership is..

InfluenceReal Change

RelationshipShared Purpose

Power (influence) is the heart of leadership

Only when leaders and followers actually intend substantive, transformative changes is a leadership relationship possible.

Trustworthy, Interdependent Partners

Trust

Willingness to be vulnerable to others in risky situations

Trustworthy

• Ability• Integrity• Benevolent Intentions

Interdependent Partnership

Responsibility

Expectations

Accountability

Learning

Responsibility

• Foundation of interdependence• Unless and until you assume full

responsibility for yourself, you force others to assume responsibility for you

• Performance– Master your current job– Continuously improve how that job is done

• Caring

Expectations

• Framework of interdependence • Know what’s expected of you• Share your expectations of others with

them• Make this a team activity• Promise to deliver

Accountability

• Binding strength of interdependence • Two principles

– Always starts with you: performance, caring, expectations, encourage and enable others

– When you look at others, look for solutions rather than blame

• Don’t look the other way when it matters

Learning

• Fulfillment of interdependence • Change in behavior• Core performance technology• If you stop learning and growing, you

will increasingly become either a burden or a stranger to others at work

REAL Relationship

• Are you dependent, independent, or interdependent in your work relationships? How does your style of relating affect others at work?

• Are you really learning and growing at work? Name one thing you are doing better now than 3 months ago.

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Purpose: The Missing Factor

Vision – where we are goingMission – who, when, how we

will get thereValues – rules of engagement

and norms of behaviorPurpose – why we do what we

do

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Purpose

• Never changes• Short and easy for all to remember• Serves as a guide for daily behavior• When reasonable people disagree

on the “right thing to do”, purpose should be the guiding principle

Purpose

Organizations flourish when everyone behaves purposefully

Process of Leadership

Trustworthy, interdependent partners focused on real change that advances the shared purpose

Add two items to your list of changes you need to make

Break!Session 2 starts at

10:30

Session 2

Person +

Environment (system) =

Behavior

Behavior at Work

Person

PersonalityAttitudesValues

PerceptionsEmotionsMotivation

System

PoliciesProceduresEquipment

HiringTrainingStaffingRewards

Performance EvaluationSupervisionDaily Events

Behavior

HelpingCivility

TardinessAbsenteeism

TurnoverParticipationPreparationPerformance

Inner Work Life Effect:

“People do better work when they are happy, have positive views of the organization and its people, and are motivated primarily by the work itself.” (p, 47)

WorkdayEvents

Perceptions/thoughts(Sensemaking aboutworkday events)• The organization• Managers, self, team• The work• Sense of

accomplishment

Emotions/feelings(Reactions to workday events)• Positive emotions• Negative emotions• Overall mood

Motivation/drive(Desire to do the work)• What do to• How to do it• When to do it• Whether to do it

IndividualPerformance

Inner Work Life System

Amiable, T & Kramer, S. (2011). The Progress Principle

Even seemingly mundane events – such as small wins

and minor setbacks – can significantly

effect inner work life

The Progress PrincipleEvents signifying progress• Small wins• Breakthroughs• Forward movement• Goal completion

The Catalyst FactorEvents supporting the work• Setting clear goals• Allowing autonomy• Providing resources• Providing sufficient time• Helping with the work• Learning from problems and successes• Allowing ideas to flow

The Nourishment FactorEvents supporting the person• Respect• Encouragement• Emotional support• Affiliation

Positive Inner

Work Life

Amiable, T & Kramer, S. (2011). The Progress Principle

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2 3

Daily Events

The power of setbacks to diminish happiness is more than twice as strong as the power of progress to boost happiness. The power of

setbacks to increase frustration is more than three times as strong as the power of

progress to decrease frustration. (p. 92)

Meaning Killers

• Dismiss someone’s ideas• Make employees doubt the

work they do is important• Assign people to work for

which they are overqualified• Keep people from assuming

full ownership of their work

Inhibitors

• Unclear goals• Micro-management• Lack of resources (e.g. information,

equipment, funding, personnel, training)• Time pressure• Punishment (vs. learning) from problems or

mistakes• Shut down open discussion• Increased workload + decreased control

Toxins• Disrespect • Discouragement• Emotional neglect• Antagonism

Daily progress doing meaningful work

Team Leaders / Immediate Supervisors

Whatever your level in the organization … you bear some responsibility for the inner work

lives of the people around you (p. 181)

Recommendations

• Systematic awareness• Stay tuned everyday• Target support• Check in – don’t check-up• Events change the culture• Tend to your own inner work life

Exercise 2

What are the catalysts and inhibitors in your work environment?

List at least three of each

Add two items to your list of changes you need to make

Lunch!Session 3 starts at 1 pm

Session 3

For anything to change, someone has to start acting differently. Can you get people to start behaving differently? (p.4)

Change Metaphor

Rider - Rational – Deliberates,

analyzes, looks into the future

– Provides planning and direction

Elephant – Emotional

– Feels pain and pleasure

– Provides the energy

Direct the RiderFollow the bright spots:

Investigate and clone the successes

Destination postcards:Shows the Rider where you are headed and the Elephant why the journey is worthwhile

Change is easierwhen you know whereyou are going and whyit is worth it

Script the critical movesBe specific about the behavior you want to change

Direct the Rider• What looks like resistance

is often a lack of clarity• Clarity dissolves

resistance

Motivate the Elephant

Find the feeling

Motivation comes from confidence. The Elephant has to believe that it’s capable of conquering the change

Shrink the change:

Break down the change until it no longer spooks the Elephant

Sense of progress is critical

Make change a matter of identity, not consequences

Who am I? What kind of situation is this? What would someone like me do in this

situation?

Grow your people

Encourage a growth mindset by

praising effort rather than skill

Growth Mindset

• Talent is NOT fixed unless you believe that it is. Treat talent as something almost everyone can earn, not that just a few people own.

• Everyone can learn to work smarter

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Motivate the Elephant

Change is hard because people wear themselves out.

What looks like laziness is often exhaustion

Shape the PathTweak the environment. When the

situation changes, behavior changes

Build Habits

Supportive habits that are easy to embrace and advance the new

behavior

Action Triggers: Decisions you make to execute a certain action when you encounter a certain situation

Checklists help educate people about what is best by showing then the right way to do something

Rally the HerdBehavior is contagious; help it spread

Shape the path

What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. When you shape the path, you make the change more likely, no matter what’s happening with the Rider and the Elephant

The law of crappy systems trumps the law of crappy people

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Exercise 3

Identify a change that is happening right now at work. Discuss ways that you can direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path to help improve the success of this change

Add two items to your list of changes you need to make

Break!Session 4 starts at 2:45

Session 4

Organizational CitizensTaker, Matcher, or Giver

Takers view success as attaining results that are superior to others

Matchers see success in terms of balancing individual accomplishments

with fairness to others

Givers characterize success as individual achievements that have a

positive impact on others

How you give determines if you will achieve long term success or languish at the bottom

Concern for Other’s Interests

LOW HIGH

Concern for Self-Interest

LOW Apathetic Selfless: Self-sacrificinggivers

HIGH Selfish:Takers

Otherish:Successful Givers

Exercise 4

How can you improve the citizenship behavior in your organization?

Discuss ways you can direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path to create more otherish givers in your organization.

Wrap-up

Add two more items to your list. What are the top two changes that

you need to make?

Questions?

Changes I need to make

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Notes