{"id":476,"date":"2013-05-14T18:43:40","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T18:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/?p=476"},"modified":"2013-05-14T18:44:51","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T18:44:51","slug":"8-ways-to-mismanage-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/2013\/05\/14\/8-ways-to-mismanage-change\/","title":{"rendered":"8 ways to mismanage change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"8Ball\"<\/a>We’ve been doing a lot of programs on change management lately. \u00a0Here’s a piece I wrote for the Southeast Wisconsin ASTD <\/a>newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Leaders don\u2019t set out to do a bad job helping employees handle change.\u00a0 But you\u2019d be surprised at how often they end up doing just that.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how to insure that you fail miserably:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/b>Explain it once and be done with it.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/b>Whether it\u2019s a merger, a reorganization, or a change in work assignments, tell people \u2013 then drop the subject.\u00a0 They heard you. Why go over it again and again?<\/li>\n
  2. <\/b>Use vague terminology.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/b>Don\u2019t be specific about what will change.\u00a0 Use clich\u00e9s like \u201cquality driven\u201d and \u201cflatter organizational structure.\u201d\u00a0 Make sure only top managers know the details. <\/b><\/li>\n
  3. <\/b>Don\u2019t talk about the purpose behind change.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/b>Employees wouldn\u2019t understand, anyway.\u00a0 Besides, they want to keep their jobs, so they\u2019ll just do as they\u2019re told.<\/b><\/li>\n
  4. <\/b>Dismiss people\u2019s feelings.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/b>They\u2019re overreacting.\u00a0 Nobody promised them a rose garden.\u00a0\u00a0 Change is coming, and there\u2019s nothing they can do about it. If you ignore all that messy emotion, it will go away.<\/b><\/li>\n
  5. <\/b>Disregard the past.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/b>No matter how things worked before, it\u2019s over now.\u00a0 The new ways will be better; why else would top management have come up with them?\u00a0 Insist that people focus only on the future.\u00a0 They\u2019ll soon forget their sense of loss.<\/b><\/li>\n
  6. <\/b>Don\u2019t answer questions<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/b>People will come up with their own ideas about what\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 Let them \u2013 it will keep them busy during the transition.\u00a0 And crazy rumors keep people on their toes.<\/b><\/li>\n
  7. <\/b>Don\u2019t allow doubt or confusion.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/b>Make everybody get with the program.\u00a0 Isolate those who seem depressed, before they bring everybody else down.\u00a0 <\/b><\/li>\n
  8. <\/b>Pile on the changes<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/b>Before people get too settled in the new ways, change something else.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 Everybody\u2019s used to constant shocks by now. A few more won\u2019t matter. <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/b>Have you or your organization ever handled change this way? \u00a0What were the results?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We’ve been doing a lot of programs on change management lately. \u00a0Here’s a piece I wrote for the Southeast Wisconsin ASTD newsletter. Leaders don\u2019t set out to do a bad job helping employees handle change.\u00a0 But you\u2019d be surprised at how often they end up doing just that.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how to insure that you fail …<\/p>\n

    Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-change-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.workplaceinteractors.com\/theinteraction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}