How Emotional Intelligence Can Facilitate Change
For many people the thought of change can result in anxiety, frustration and even fear. Just think about this a minute. Daily we are confronted with change upon change. This constant bombardment can leave us in a chronic state of heightened negative emotions. However, if we have developed our Emotional Intelligence skills, we should be better able to manage the emotions that change can evoke. If you are the one responsible for initiating the change following are some factors for you to consider that will increase the likelihood of success.
One factor is how dissatisfied people are with the current situation or state of things. The more dissatisfied people are, the higher the likelihood of initiating a change. A second factor is having a view of how people would like things to be in the future. The clearer and more desirable this future view is, the more likely people will be to go along with a change. Closely associated with the desirable future state is a third factor, the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) where “me” is the individual or collective group affected by the change. Another factor is how can we get from here to there? That is, what are the action steps that need to be taken? The more clearly defined and proven these steps are, the higher the likelihood of successful change. Of course any change takes time and resources (money and people).
The more effectively individuals can manage their emotions of anxiety, frustration, and fear associated with the change, the higher the likelihood of successful implementation of change. To increase the chance for a successful change, let’s explore in more detail actions that can be taken for each of the the above factors.
Raise the dissatisfaction with “what is.”
Get people to talk about or voice what’s wrong with the current situation, process, or approach. Create forums for people to give voice to the problems they are experiencing that have to do with the change area. Be careful not to do all the talking yourself. The idea is to get others (particularly those you want to influence) to use their own examples and situations to identify the problems with the current situation.
Paint a Picture of the Future State.
Ask those with a vested interest (or show them) what things could be like (outcomes) if a change was made from the way things are done today. Get them to voice how this could/would be better for themselves and the organization. Look for the common benefits across the population affected so you can share those with others as you gain momentum for the change.
Provide the “how to.”
What’s your solution for how to get from today’s approach to the desired future way? Explain or show them how this has been done in other organizations similar to yours. Make sure they see the “steps” as doable to get from here to there. Remember, you may have to modify your initial ideas to work within the expectations/needs of those with a vested interest.
Resources.
Be thinking about and investigating where the required resources (people and money) will come from that will be required to take you from today’s situation to the desired future. Those with vested interests may be willing to suggest or even volunteer resources to support the change.
If you work through the above points before initiating a change, you’ll find the process moves more easily. People will be less stressed and anxious because they have been involved from the beginning and they have had a chance to buy-in and gain some ownership of the change.
