Pandemic Lessons: Drive Change In Five Stages

With the announcement last week that children ages five to eleven are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, many workers are anxious about what changes their organizations may make in 2022. In some organizations, people were complaining about change fatigue before the pandemic. Now, adaptability and resilience have become a required skillset for all of us. In this next-phase of the pandemic, how can we learn from the increased humanity we’ve all shared to continue to be more thoughtful and less reactive when it comes to organizational change?

Dr. Michelle Somerday, founder and CEO of Neo-Strategic, a leadership development and executive coaching firm, suggests that “now is the time for leaders to summon even more energy to help guide their teams and organizations out of the pandemic – a transition that may be as tough as any over the past 18 months.” While some people may feel a sense of relief with more re-opening, leaders must recognize that others will need time, space, and support, as this too is a period of change. That means, leaders, that now is the time to elevate your organization despite the challenges; not a time to celebrate surviving the storm.

_{5-Stages of Organizational Change}

Good news: The pandemic has been a great training ground for just that. As an executive coach, Dr. Somerday works with leaders to help them improve their own self-awareness, resilience and ability to adapt to new situations. Coaching executives through the pandemic has given her the ability to help her clients with their individual personal development as they drive their organizations through the changes imposed by the pandemic and the opportunities they have sought as a result. In many ways, facilitating change is her business.

In Dr. Somerday’s experience, there are five stags that she has seen her clients move through when they are faced with change. Understanding these might just help you transition your team or organization to a new “post-pandemic normal” more smoothly and effectively.

Stage One: Clarity and Transparency

The first step is to understand the problem: gain greater clarity on what is known, and seek greater transparency into the unknown. Asking questions instead of starting with solutions allows leaders to assess the current challenge before addressing it. Slowing down to collect information before reacting is strategic: it allows you to re-frame the problem and develop an appropriate set of expectations that can be communicated to the organization.

Stage Two: Empathy and Awareness

The next step is to widen the aperture on what you think you know. Empathy and awareness aren’t nice to haves, they are the keys to connection and innovation. Once the challenge has been framed, it’s important that leaders check their blind spots so that the path forward is inclusive and comprehensive. Understanding the needs and perspectives of others can both define the solution and help lower resistance to proactive changes.

Stage Three: Collective Resilience

The hard work begins once the foundation is laid. Collective resilience is about moving outside of our own needs and focusing on helping others become resilient as well. In the case of the pandemic, that may mean collectively grieving the loss of elastic-waist pajama pants as you return to the office in business attire. It might also mean more flexible work arrangements and open discussions about autonomy and empowerment on an ongoing basis.

Stage Four: Agency and Acceptance

As we build up our resilience, we become better able to use that autonomy and empowerment to have agency in how we respond. According to Dr. James Moore, distinguished professor of Psychology at the University of London, agency is the feeling we have of being in control, of being in the driver’s seat. In resilient and adaptive organizations, leaders create environments where all employees have the ability to adapt to change because they are able to accept new realities and grab the wheel; they aren’t waiting in the back seat for instructions from their managers. Once an individual has that sense of agency, adaptation becomes the new normal.

Stage Five: Ongoing Adaptation

Adaptation is the future of work. We simply don’t know what jobs and roles will be replaced and what new skills will be needed as technology continues to facilitate the evolution away from routine tasks and thinking. How many jobs that were common in the last century have since been replaced by machines or simple lines of code? What jobs are needed today that didn’t exist a decade or more ago? How are our people prepared to step into those roles? Stage five is all about leading forward: motivating individuals to embrace their capabilities and take initiative; helping them grow and learn; and giving them the space they need to balance work with the other things that matter to them in their lives.

Change is Leadership

The pandemic will have global implications for some time, as evidenced by the impact on the global supply chain. That’s even more reason why now is the time to double down on helping your organization continue to adapt. Leaders who teach their organizations how to have a degree of agency will have more effective organizations that are better able to adapt to the unforeseen challenges of the future. Being mindful of these five stages of organizational change might just help you guide your teams and organizations a little more smoothly.