Facilitating Managerial Change

1. Facilitating Managerial Change Mann, David W. “Why supervisors resist change and what you can do about it.” The Journal for Quality and Participation. May/June 2000. Chris Huth and Adam Calamar

2. Manager and Employee Mr. Weed Peter Griffin

3. Why Resist Change? • Change can make a supervisor look bad • Managers are supposed to have all the answers!

4. Assumptions about Management • They know everything that’s happening • If they don’t tell us what’s happening, it’s because they are: • Hoarding information • Shading the truth • Not being co-operative

5. These assumptions only make things worse! • Situation damages trust, morale, supervisor credibility • Supervisor learns to not say anything about a change until they know everything • Usually, this is after the change has already happened

6. The ‘Gotcha’ Game • 1) Management won’t talk about changes • 2) Employees go above/around management to probe for information • 3) Any inconsistencies are used against the manager • 4) Manager learns to withhold information even more

7. Solving the problem • Supervisors must lead people through a change • Supervisors must be prepared for change by their supervisors, and so on up

8. Being a good leader • 1) Get your own questions settled • 2) Be comfortable answering questions, even without complete answers - practice • 3) Develop your own picture of the changed future - know why the change is happening

9. Leader preparation • Preparing a leader for a major change is a lengthy process • Often seen as a drain of cost and time that should be minimized so… • Results of a change program are often disappointing

10. Answering questions • “Let me tell you what I do know” • “We’re in step 3 of an n-step long process” • “Complete answers may not be available until we’re further along in the process”

11. Shatter the myth of omniscience • Removes burden from managers • Creates feelings of equality and trust between manager and employees

12. Questions?