The Hostility Of Change

Joe Robert Thornton

Description

Having trouble managing change? Most of us do at some point in our life. The implication of change in our personal life is challenging enough. Managing change as a leader has even greater implications. In The Hostility Of Change, Joe Robert Thornton explores all elements of change, including the deep-seated barriers that give rise to resistance. The Hostility Of Change also explores real sustainable change... and real, sustainable change is a level above a crisis. This book also explores emotions. Emotions typically surface when change is introduced, often overpowering the processes you are attempting to implement. Recognizing, understanding, and leveraging emotions in the change process can have a positive effect on the trajectory of the change. In this book, you will learn about: - How clarity can be a hidden barrier to change acceptance, - The difference between a crisis, an ultimatum and a ‘burning platform’, - Why improvement is not the same as change, - How quiet voices can be disruptive or supportive to the change process, - Passive-aggressiveness and its relationship to change, - The role of compassion to drive change in others, - Recommendations for addressing resistance to change. In the end, change is incredibly difficult to manage; however, with the right inspiration, the change process can be improved. The Hostility Of Change reaffirms that there is a pathway to do just that. If you want to expand your thinking as a leader and become the change-agent you have always aspired to be, this book is for you.

Sujets

• Gestion et management
• Economics
• Business
• Leadership

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 05 mars 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977240767
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Hostility Of Change Breaking Through Deep-Seated Barriers All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2021 Joe Robert Thornton v9.0
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Vizzionnary Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-9772-4076-7
Cover Photo © 2021 www.gettyimages.com . All rights reserved - used with permission.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Chapters
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1: Change Is An Emotion
Chapter 2: The Ultimatum
Chapter 3: Creating A Crisis
Chapter 4: Bias Is A Four-Letter Word
Chapter 5: The Quiet Voices
Chapter 6: The Change Hook
Chapter 7: Improvement Is Not The Same As Change
Chapter 8: Change Is A Choice
Chapter 9: Utter Dissatisfaction
Chapter 10: Solving For Solutions
Chapter 11: For The Sake Of Clarity
Chapter 12: Empathy And Compassion
Chapter 13: The Resistance
Chapter 14: Putting It All Together
Some details and names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. Some characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are used in a fictitious manner. Events and conversations have been recreated from memory.
Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at the time of press, the author and publisher do not assume any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or impact caused by errors or omissions.
Real, sustainable change is difficult… but not impossible.
This book is dedicated to my wife, Inez Thornton. She has endured more change than any human being that I know. Physical change, mental change, and emotional change… and sometimes all at once. She has encouraged me and empowered me to be able to manage any change that comes my way.
"The moment that a moment is gone, change has occurred."
~ Joe Robert Thornton
Foreword
Change is a topic that Joe Thornton has been passionate about for a long time. I know because I had the opportunity to participate in his early leadership journey almost twenty years ago as an independent consultant. I got to see up close and personal how Joe navigated change to help transform the operation of a 5,500 store, multi-billion dollar organization. Without explicit line authority, Joe was able to diplomatically lead a large group of field coaches to implement significant operational changes across the entire country successfully.
Through that experience and so many other leadership opportunities in the ensuing years, Joe has learned much about change. He has invested a great deal of time and energy into his professional career and, over the years, has experienced a multitude of approaches to change management… a competency that he views as, arguably, the most challenging aspect of leadership. Joe believes that there is a hostility in the change process, an often deep-seated resistance that needs to be better understood. He also believes that unlocking that opposition, that hostility, can help accelerate the trajectory of change.
But Joe has learned that change is not just about process. He sees change as an emotional journey that people experience, and the role of leadership is to inspire people to want to make that change. He also believes that change, contrary to many organizational applications, is not a team sport… every individual must go through the change process on their own.
In his broad operational roles, Joe has seen the change management approach demonstrated with a variety of outcomes. Some of the change management attempts have been successful at embedding real, sustainable change in an organization, but equally, Joe has observed attempts at change that completely missed the mark. Not only was the organization unable to implement the expected change, but as a result of the failed endeavor, the institution’s culture and trust were seriously fractured.
Joe also believes that before the professional journey of change can begin, the personal journey of change must occur. He also recognizes that the more that we can overcome personal change challenges… things as simple as eating healthier or exercising consistently… the better we can equip ourselves as leaders to help others through change.
In this book, Joe explores what is required in each of us to achieve personal change and, eventually, leadership growth. He has taken the time to weave together the experiences and lessons that he has learned and tells real-life stories about change and the impact that they have had on people and the businesses that they led. Joe takes on the deep-seated barriers to change and offers recommendations to help individuals and organizations break through the frequent resentment associated with change.
And finally, Joe introduces principles that challenge the traditional ways of thinking about change management.
Ultimately, I know that Joe would like to see everyone have success in making real, sustainable change in their lives. Taking the time to share his personal experiences in this manner is his way of giving back to others- to those who have invested in his leadership journey and those who are struggling with change in their everyday lives.
Mitch Telson Former Chief Operating Officer- Circle K Former President- Petco
Preface
I recognize that hostility is a strong word. Just hearing the word can stir emotions.
Hostility, by definition, is emotionally charged aggression. Hostility is the state of ill will and bad feelings. Hostility is unfriendly, animosity, bad blood, antagonism, belligerence, rancor.
I titled this book The Hostility Of Change. In part because change can be all these things too.
I also chose this title because change is not always what it appears to be. It does not always go along with the nicely-packaged processes that we have developed.
Let me explain: Change is often presented as a symbiotic process that happens, many times amongst teams, and with the expectation that everyone will be on board with the change. The reality is that change is rarely symbiotic; each person must go through change, and to get to effective change implementation, I believe that you must assume that the change will not be willingly accepted- that there will be hostility.
Here is the reason why:
Change brings out emotion. Sometimes outwardly demonstrated, sometimes even in a hostile way.
Change can also invoke a passively hostile resistance, often difficult to detect, but just as detrimental to the change process you are attempting to implement. Best-in-class leaders recognize this and address it just as aggressively as they address the overt resistance to change.
Regardless of how it is demonstrated, change is part and parcel to the human experience. We are constantly changing and constantly experiencing change. As a result, change is everywhere, and we are always attempting to solve it.
This constant process makes change tricky. In part, because I do not believe that change is a static continuum, moving from one phase to another until it is accepted. I will discuss this more later in the book.
On the professional side of change, organizations spend millions of dollars every year putting their teams through change management training, even hiring outside consultants to lead the process. The number of activities, meetings, seminars, events, training materials, and manuals dedicated to change management can be overwhelming.
In the end, many organizations and leaders come to the same fork in the road related to change management– they launch new programs and processes only to find weeks or months later that real, sustainable change did not occur. The new techniques that were introduced to their teams did not get embedded, and old behaviors returned. It leaves many organizations dissecting their approach and trying to understand what they could have done differently.
In part, I believe that this is because real, sustainable change happens deep down inside of each person. Let me be clear, activities created to inspire people to want to change are not wrong, they are just not effective. Why?
I am carefully choosing my words here:
Leaders can inspire people to want to change, but leaders cannot make people change.
Ultimately, there must be a catalyst for change… internally. Not some writing on the wall that was cleverly crafted by the corporate office think-tank or worse, by outside consultants hired by the organization that know even less about the actual people who need to be inspired to believe in the change.
Not real, sustainable change anyway. There is a distinction here that I will get to later in the book.
On the personal side of change, many of us have embarked on a life journey of start and stop changes- whether it is around relationships, exercise, diets, etc. We are continually pushing to change and be better- many times finding ourselves back where we started. On some level, changing our behavior should be easier than attempting to change a team of people you are leading. So, it would seem.
However, personal change can be even more difficult simply because there is no one else to blame if the change is not implemented.
Professionally, I have gone through many iterations of change management processes in my career, and virtually none of them achieved the desired success in any organization that I worked. While it is not my intention, I recognize that this sounds a bit negative and broad-sweeping. However, I am only amplifying how difficult real, sustainable change is to achieve. That said, when the change was successful, the common denomina