All change, please

Why can family holidays end in arguments? You have spent ages sorting out where to go, how to get there and saving up the money and are now left wondering why you bothered.

Slowly, the truth emerges. You wanted total relaxation away from the stresses of work, your partner wanted to break their previous record for rare twitching sightings and your children wanted to stay out all night clubbing.

Three often neglected skills for successfully managing change are illustrated in this scenario.

First, you need to agree on the intended outcomes of any change before you decide on the what you are going to do, how you are going to do it and what resources you need. Outcomes are the benefits that users will gain from change or, in other words, how their lives will be better as a result. Involving users themselves in agreeing outcomes will not only sharpen your focus on their needs and wishes but also force you to define these outcomes in terms that they will understand.

So the first question should not be as stated in a recent Social Services Inspectorate report¹ which asks: "Is there a shared understanding at all levels in the council about how services are to change to meet the expectation of modernising social services?" Rather, it should be: "Is there a shared understanding about what better outcome we want to achieve for service users?"

The second skill concerns the recognition that managing change involves intense feelings. These can range from anger at the implicit criticism that change means what people have been doing previously is not good enough to a sense of excitement at new opportunities.

Some readers will be familiar with Kabler-Ross's work² with people who are dying and their carers. Her stages that people can go through in coping with new and stressful life situations can be usefully adapted to managing change. People progress from denial ("it will not affect me"), to anger ("why me?"), to bargaining ("perhaps I can get them to leave me out of it"), to depression ("there's no point in doing anything"), to acceptance ("might as well make the best of it") and finally to hope ("perhaps I can make this work").

Individuals and teams will not move smoothly through these stages but skill in recognising and managing this feeling process is an essential aspect of managing change.

The third skill involves expecting the unexpected. Change is never smooth, some things take shorter or longer than planned, people develop new ideas during the change process, others change their minds or get cold feet.

However good your planning, managing the implementation of change will take 10 times as much energy and thought.

Planning change is a relatively simple task and the important work starts when you are implementing change and beginning to assess whether the intended outcomes for users will be achieved.

Martin Willis is programme director, Inlogov, Birmingham University.

¹ Social Services Inspectorate, Modernising Services to Transform Care, SSI, 2002

² E Kabler-Ross, On Death and Dying, Tavistock, 1970

Top tips

• Don't rubbish the past.
• Look for opportunities to introduce and shape thinking about change and involve people.
• Resistance based on emotion and perception is more difficult to deal with than a lack of information.
• There are many models - it is okay to adapt them to meet your own change process.
• The best lessons are those drawn from experience of trying things out - and, yes, sometimes from getting them wrong.

Rubbish tips

• Managing change is always difficult.
• Change always brings benefits.
• There are quick fixes and easy solutions.   

Keys to managing A smooth transition

It is difficult to believe now, but the chief management task used to be about managing stability and continuity and occasionally the conditions for growth.

Nowadays the primary task of those who manage is development, continuous improvement and constant change.

Good change management requires attention to a few key elements:

• Many people do not like change and will do everything they can to resist it. It is therefore essential to foresee reactions and plan accordingly. Think about what people may gain or lose from the change.
• Understand the impact of change for the individual, the team and the organisation. People may react out of fear, perceived threat or a lack of involvement.
• Change is a process that typically follows a series of stages. It is important to allow enough time as it often takes longer and the implications spread wider than you think.
• Communication is a crucial skill in building commitment to change. Information should be delivered in accessible ways and at the right time.

It is worth remembering that few managers have a responsibility for managing change in isolation or totally. It is likely to be a part of bigger picture changes. Effective support systems should therefore be identified as part of the implementation process.

Des Kelly is partnerships director, Bupa Care Homes.