Supporting HR teams to cope with change
As an HR team we were being asked to drive many change initiatives with wide ranging impact on the organizations people practices and processes. I wanted to make space to both think about the impact of these on ourselves as team members, the potential impact of the initiatives on the people in the organization and learn, if possible, about the best way to manage change. It was an ambitious agenda and I was not entirely clear how the initiative would unfold as the year progressed or if we would meet any, some or all of the aims. In our monthly team meeting we made time for each work unit to take the 8 stages of successful change initiatives suggested by Kotter (referenced below) and assess a change initiative they were driving, participating in or being affected by in relation to each of these stages. It was such a pleasure to see the creativity of the team as they engaged with Kotter’s principles and connected them with their own work. Each unit took a different approach and chose different aspects of their work to present and discuss. I am certain we did achieve a distance from our work and we did manage to reflect on it in a way that would not have been likely otherwise.
Reflective practitioner was a concept introduced by Schon (1983) who recognized that the ability to reflect on how work was being done was as important as doing the work itself. At the time this was not so evident as it is now and since the publication of Schon’s work much has been written on how to develop the subtle skills of reflecting on actions and even reflecting in action.
What helps
Providing time in monthly group meetings to discuss change and the impact it is having on individuals
Sharing useful resources such as Kotter’s ‘my iceberg is melting’ to encourage conversation
Modelling self reflection especially when thinking about the previous month’s work
Really encouraging and allowing creativity during the stories of individual experiences of change
Resources
Schon, D.A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action, Basic Books, (1983).
Kotter, J. and Rathberger, H. ‘Our Iceberg is Melting’, (2005). An engaging parable of how a colony of penguins navigate an existential crisis and make dramatic changes in the way they live.
