In the previous lesson, we talked about how early involvement, and early influence make a quicker, smoother change possible. It also helps, obviously, if the change is seen as an improvement. But now and then, you’ll find yourself leading a change where these three factors are not where you want them to be (downsizing is a special case, we’ll leave that for now).

Early involvement is difficult in acquisitions, for example, where you can’t release information too early. Not knowing makes people careful and the change curves steeper. Influence becomes limited if most decisions have already been made, such as changes in global systems. Sometimes it’s even hard to see that the change will bring improvements. I’m sure you have your own examples. So, what to do? Well, there is actually a lot you can do to make difficult changes easier.

Even if it’s too late for early involvement, you can start involving as soon as possible. It’s insulting for people to learn that they have been kept in the dark, so tell them everything you can as soon as you can. Don’t wait until you have all the information, a plan, an agenda, or all the answers. If you wait, they will start guessing – and that’s usually a bad thing.

Even if it’s too late for early influence, try to help the team stop focusing on what they can’t influence, and start looking for what they can do. Can you ask them to analyze risks and prevent them? Can they investigate options, or prepare for the next step? Put them to work! Influence is especially important in turbulent times, because if people feel that they have influence, they can be more flexible and relaxed, even if the future is a bit uncertain. If they have no influence, they feel insecure, so they will be less flexible.

What is there is no improvement? Well, there must be some reason for the change; will it make customers happy? NCAB-colleagues? Showing people how much your team are helping others can make them feel a lot better. Also, there are always some hidden opportunities in a change, and if happy customers and colleagues can get people past the first part of the change curve, then they will help you find, or create, opportunities in the If… then-phase.

All these actions involve dialogue. So be available, meet with them often, even if they are being difficult. Encourage their questions; ask for their ideas and their help.

In big change projects, it can be helpful with a step-by-step process. This is a famous one by John Kotter, 8 steps:

1. Increase urgency Make it clear what can be gained by starting on this day.
2. Build a guiding team Don’t do everything yourself – it’s no fun and you’ll become a bottleneck. Bring on a mix of people.
3. Get the vision right Why are we doing this again? (Visions are seldom clear from the start.)
4. Communicate for buy-in Information is a start, dialogue is more effective, but involvement and influence, that’s what gets the buy-in.
5. Empower action Encourage levelling up and exploring.
6. Create short-term wins In long change projects, visible steps forward and small improvements are important to boost energy. Celebrate!
7. Don’t let up Usually, you have to keep driving the change longer than you think! Be prepared for setbacks, or people just running out of energy.
8. Make change stick Most changes need some adjusting – they seldom come out exactly as planned. If you prepare for follow-ups and adjustments in advance, people will be less surprised and disappointed.

So, there is a lot you can do to make difficult change easier. Involvement, influence and improvement.