By recognizing the signs of turmoil in yourself and others, you may be able to step back to think and act more pro-actively and strategically.

An economy in distress, recession, lay-offs and cut backs, investment markets in turmoil - times are tough and getting tougher for lots of people in lots of industries. Business climates like these present us two big questions:

- How can I deal with the personal consequences difficult times may cause me as an individual?
- How can I, as a leader of my company, help the organization continue to fulfill our mission?

When things get rocky for the organization, employees must accomplish more with fewer resources. They must often change jobs, hours, or locations — or even worse, face job loss.

You can’t lead an organization through the changes of hard times by narrowly focusing on "toughing it out." Human beings are wired to experience change and loss in predictable, emotional ways that get in the way of "just do it" attitudes every time. As you face uncomfortable changes, and lead people who are doing the same, it’s helpful to know what happens organizationally and personally when change hits us.

Reacting to Change
First, looking at a whole organization, how do people in organizations adapt to change? The answer is: differently over time. Years of observation and research has shown there is a predictable bell- shaped distribution of response times to change — be it response to a new product in the market or adaptation to a new process or system in a company. In short, we need to remember that people don’t all adapt to change in the same way or at the same time. In any given organization faced with any given change, a small percentage of people are going to be “innovators” — the creators and leaders of change. Others tend to adapt and follow along with the innovators pretty quickly — they are the "early adapters." A somewhat larger group tend to adapt more slowly, but eventually come around. Then there are those who adapt much more slowly, or even actively resist change; these may take a very long time to adapt. Finally, there are the "never-evers." They just won’t change, period.

When changes are painful and severe, like downsizing and job cuts, you can well imagine how this adaptation curve will shift — fewer happy innovators, many more in the slow to adapt and resisting areas of the curve. There is bound to be more tension in the system, lots of pressure brought on by forced change no one wants, and lots of people moving into very slow adaptation or resistance. This predictable human tension tends to make necessary changes during these times even more frustrating and painful for everyone involved.

What about the individual? Individuals also have a fairly predictable response to change that involves loss. William Bridges’ research, presented in his book Managing Transitions, Making the Most of Change, Addison Wesley Publishing, 1991, shows that whenever people are faced with change, there is a natural personal and emotional response because change inevitably means the loss of something familiar and valued. Individual’s emotional responses, termed "transition" by Bridges, involves stages:

First comes shock — how could they do that? How can this be happening to me?
Then comes denial — this isn’t happening, I’m not going to deal with it!
Then the confusion, frustration and uncertainty — I don’t understand this! What is going on? What’s to be done? Why won’t they just tell me the answers I need? I don’t trust the system anymore and I don’t know where to turn, so I just churn. This is the stage of transition Bridges calls "the neutral zone."

With time to "heal," and with good leadership, people can get to a place of curiosity, and then hopefulness about a new beginning. Finally they become willing to take some steps to move forward from loss to the new beginning. Some people go through these transitions faster and some slower, but we all do it when change happens.

Recognizing the Impact of Change