Introducing change - the fear of the unknown

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts".

Arnold Bennet – Journalist & Author

Progress is the result of change.

Yet when we try to introduce change, the fear of altering the status quo often leads to fighting and resistance. How do we overcome these fears and lock in the progress we desire?

Unfortunately, change isn't an easy sell, especially in the circumstances where the change is unpopular or dramatic. Change challenges us to put our faith in the planning skills of the change drivers.

Change is often dressed up as innovation, but frequently there are other underlying factors that have necessitated the desire to introduce difference.

Some of the most common change drivers are:

1) A crisis or near miss

2) A new business opportunity or venture

3) A revision of the business’ vision and strategy

4) A change in company structure or company executives

5) To address perceived knowledge and/or skill gaps

6) To respond to client demands

7) To increase productivity potential

8) To increase the skills and attributes of the workforce

Whilst change is often ‘sold’ as a positive thing, a common trap that many managers and business owners fall into is introducing change too quickly – a knee jerk reaction to address a problem or opportunity that has arisen - without considering who will champion the change once they remove themselves from the process.

Top reasons employees resist change:

1) Inability to understand the nature of the change required and the implications of not implementing the change.

2) An unpleasant previous experience brought about from a previous attempt at change.

3) Insufficient explanation is provided so that affected employees consider the changes to be irrelevant and inappropriate.

4) Insecurity, a lack of confidence or a lack of desire to acquire new skills or deal with changing work and/or associated procedures.

5) A perception that their autonomy levels are being eroded by change being forced upon them.

6) The potential benefits do not outweigh the risks.

7) Lack of any incentive to ‘buy-in’ to the change proposed.

8) An unwillingness to change long-term habits and get out of their comfort zone.

9) The fear of the unknown

"One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again".

Abraham Maslow - Psychologist

Let’s look at how we overcome the fear of the unknown
A fear of the unknown is normal and to be expected. When a person leaves the familiar - the status quo – and steps outside of their comfort zone they will be unsure that the new way of doing things will be better, or even work out. The comfort of the norm will beckon them like a warm, safe blanket. Naturally this will cumulate in them feeling increasingly uncertain and fearful of the future.

This fear, whilst common and very normal, can be extremely destructive and contagious – able to spread very quickly through a group or team. The fear of the unknown will resonate within a group or team as they will all have undergone change at various points in their lives and undoubtedly some of these changes will have ended in failure. After all, we can all relate to a time when we have set out on a new venture, or tried to change something at work or at home, and experienced failures. These failures stand out a lot more than many successes that have been achieved through change.

This predictable irrationality can be worked to your advantage. By appreciating that the fear of the unknown has the ability to deride even the best laid plans we can look to minimise the risk through skilled management and communication.

Whilst we cannot predict the future – and therefore cannot guarantee that the changes we are looking to implement will bring success or achieve the desired result – what we can do is strategically outline/evidence the thought-process and planning that has gone into the proposed change process to the affected employees. By controlling the information that the employees receive you not only reduce the ‘unknowns’ but also the conjecture that quickly snowballs when employees try to guess the ‘real’ change motivators and fill the gaps.

This can quickly turn ‘change losers’ into ‘change champions’. By making employees aware of the end game, they are more likely to buy into the change process and the potential successes that can be achieved.

"After serious consideration, I have come to the conclusion that if I haven't been making any mistakes lately, I must be doing something wrong!"

Susan Jeffers - Author

Ensuring the right flow of information is one element. The next element that has to be addressed is the risk aversion that the chance of failure exposes. Business leaders and managers need to show that failure is acceptable. Whilst not preferable, failure is always an option, after all we learn more from the errors and mistakes we make than the successes we achieve.

Unfortunately, ‘change losers’ generally have an irrational belief that they should be good at something the first few times they try it. And when that doesn't happen and they experience failure, they convince themselves they shouldn't have bothered to try. They give up at the first signs of difficulty and quit the change process soon after they start.

Business owners and managers must be able to verbalise that the start-to-finish line in the change process is not always going to be a straight line to success. The line will almost always have some failure bumps along the way.

Change champions know this. They know that change requires risk, and risk can bring with it setbacks. Change champions will allow themselves some no-fault, trial-and-error learning experiments. Whilst change champions set their goals for change, they don't set their goals to be instantly successful.

The final element is knowing how to overcome the typical aversion to commitment that employee’s exhibit. Ironically change requires commitment to be successfully implemented. Commitment is often challenging as it means the opportunity cost of other choices not taken is exposed. Change champions realise the need for commitment – they are able to ask themselves what they want and are happy to stand by their answers. A lack of commitment will lead to options remaining unexplored, which will in turn increase the fear levels of the unknown – or create new unknowns (the very damaging ‘what ifs’).

To appease these employees, business owners and managers must look at how they can focus on what needs to be changed whilst keeping the rest. This will generally provide a balance between risk and change aversion and provide the benefit of change whilst providing the security of ‘unscrambling the egg’ should it be required.

"Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you."

Zig Ziglar - Author
Employees, especially in teams or groups, wants to be liked, accepted and feel appreciated. They want to feel that their efforts and opinions have won the approval of their peers. When you look to introduce change, upsetting the status quo, you risk being unpopular. Employees will feel conflicted whether to be change champions, and risk alienating their peers, or change losers and risk their reputation with their employer.

Minimising the ability for negative comments to gain traction and creating forums for healthy debate and information sharing can help reduce the fear and uncertainty that change can bring about.

Make supporting the success that change can bring about seem less work than resisting.

For further information on change management please get in contact with us.

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