Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/09/2015
7:15 am - 9:30 am
The SOAR Business Breakfast
The SOAR Institute hosts a sponsored business breakfast once a quarter. It’s purpose is to educate current and potential clients of the latest trends in organisational and people development. The breakfast talk is an hour long and provides an insightful and often unique perspective on aspects of business leadership, management, performance and producing improved results. Topics are always current and cutting edge and provide attendees with powerful distinctions and new knowledge in an informal, humorous and innovative manner.
Change is a matter of Perception
In today’s business climate companies are forced to implement sweeping changes in an effort to grow and survive. A knowledge-based economy and global transformations require swift adjustments. This environment presents new challenges and demands for everyone, from the board and CEO to the entry-level employee.
Different people react to change in different ways. While some embrace change, others resist or stall the process to the detriment of themselves and their organisations.
The challenge for those managing workplace change is how to engage, motivate and inspire a workforce who may be apprehensive, cynical or resistant.
Most change management processes operate at a mechanical level dealing only with effectively managing the symptoms of change and never really getting to the heart of why people resist change to begin with. When you understand this fundamental question it no longer becomes an issue of managing change but rather managing people in relation to change. This is a key distinction that will save organisations tons of money if understood and facilitated properly.
Key Questions
What is the psychological makeup of someone who embraces change? What beliefs, attitudes and behaviors do they exhibit that allows them to navigate change easily? Can these attributes be learnt and replicated?
People who resist change generally do so because they perceive it negatively. They often perceive its implications and consequences negatively, and they often are negative. When an organisation implements a “lift and shift” policy that involves the relocation of hundreds of employees to a new office 1500 kilometers away, it definitely has negative consequences to those people. However, there are also positive aspects to this move, that when understood could ease the effects of such drastic change. Ultimately each individual must weigh up both positive and negative consequences and make a decision accordingly.
What it ultimately comes down to is a question of perception. When an individual perceives change negatively, they will resist it and create heaps of suffering for themselves. When an individual perceives change as necessary and part of an organisations evolution they are adopting a workable perspective that increases their options and choices, making it easier to navigate change sans trauma.
Yes, organisations can manage change better, communicating it early, implementing it incrementally, invite staff to be part of the decision making process and giving them some degree of autonomy. But, when all is said and done, if individuals do not have the psychological resilience and a conducive perspective on change, they will resist it in one way or another.
Registration
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Location
Quatermain Hotel
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