by Pamela Shockley-Zalabak, Sherwyn Morreale and Michael Hackman
Leaders who effectively address distrust do not shield themselves from inconvenient facts. Even when distrust is an unfair reaction to leadership decisions, leaders who are effective work with the reality of the negative in order to stimulate a more productive future. When mistakes have been made, effective leaders take responsibility for mistakes and the problems mistakes generate.
Leaders cannot avoid making change. In fact, productive change is a core leadership responsibility. However, the often negative outcomes of major change. Overcoming the distrust of change is based on a commitment to adopting a change management process which deals with the impact of change in addition to implementing the technical aspects of change.
The primary requirement for overcoming distrust is accepting the fact that productive change is based on more than the technical aspects of moving an organization from one state to another. Overcoming distrust requires an understanding of the impact of change—both negative and positive—for all organizational stakeholders. It requires understanding how the change relates to our five dimensions of trust—competence, openness, concern, reliability, and identification. Finally, it requires setting a vision for change that incorporates inconvenient truths while moving to a better future.
A Process for Making Productive Change and Questions for Change Leaders
Establish a compelling vision for the change
- Why is the change needed?
- What are the anticipated results?
- Who will benefit?
- What are the potential negatives?
- Who will be adversely impacted?
Create the change leadership team
- What expertise is needed for the change effort?
- Who has the expertise needed for the change?
- Who specifically should be involved?
- Can key individuals devote the needed time?
- Are potential team members credible to stakeholders who are most affected by the potential change?
- Do team members need education in productive change?
Develop information needed to generate the change plan
- Assess the completeness and accuracy of current data in support of change.
- Review the completeness and accuracy of data which do not support the change.
- Identify data gaps and methods to collect missing data.
- Determine methods to collect information about attitudes toward change from most impacted stakeholders.
Establish the change implementation plan
- What actions need to be taken?
- What is the timeline?
- Who is responsible for each action?
- What are the resources needed?
- How does our plan impact perceptions of competency, openness, concern, reliability, and identification?
Establish the communication plan
- Who is responsible for developing the communication plan? Who are the key stakeholders?
- Which media should be utilized?
- What are the resources needed?
- What input and feedback processes should be established?
- How should the anticipated results be communicated?
- How should resistance/disagreement/distrust be approached?
- How does our plan impact perceptions of competency, openness, concern, reliability, and identification?
Implement the plan
- How will each action of the plan be monitored?
- How will the team respond to needed plan changes?
- Who will review stakeholder input and when?
- What data will be utilized to determine results?
- How will changes be communicated?
Evaluate and communicate the results
- Did the process achieve the desired results?
- If results achieved are excellent, why?
- If results achieved are not satisfactory, why?
- How has communication about the results been received?
- How do the results impact perceptions of competency, openness, concern, reliability, and identification?
Excerpted from Building the High-Trust Organization: Strategies for Supporting Five Key Dimensions of Trust by Pamela Shockley-Zalabak, Sherwyn Morreale and Michael Hackman