In this article we look at the role of emotions in the change process. Many inexperienced change leaders tend to assume that change in organizations can be broken down to a purely rational calculation of costs and benefits. In reality, the emotions of organization members are inextricably connected to how they will position themselves towards the change and whether they will support it, resist it, or remain neutral bystanders.
In our analysis of emotions we rely on the emotion wheel which is part of the EHL Emotional Intelligence assessment. We suggest that one of the keys for effective change leadership lies in the change leader’s ability to recognize dominant negative emotions towards change and transform them, to the extent that this is possible into positive ones.
The Emotional Assessment model
For leaders trying to steer organizations through major change, resistance to change is a permanent companion. The concept of resistance has been prominent since the earliest conceptualizations of change in organizations. Kurt Lewin hinted at it in his famous recommendation for the three key steps of change: unfreeze – change - refreeze. The idea of unfreezing suggests that organizational habits and patterns need to be broken up for change to occur. Something that is unlikely to occur without resistance. And refreezing suggests that organizational change needs to be stabilized for the long term, otherwise the remaining resistance may lead to a quick reversal and return to the old status quo.
The change formula rendered famous by many consultancy firms, suggests that resistance to change is one of the most prominent reasons for failure in change processes. It suggests that three major forces can be harnessed to overcome resistance to change. Dissatisfaction with the status quo needs to be generated. There needs to be a clear vision for change. And, last but not least, defined first steps towards the desired change need to be laid out.
These key ideas are also at the basis of the famous model for leading change developed by John Kotter of Harvard Business School fame. His recommendations include the creation of a sense of urgency, the creation of a guiding coalition to overcome resistance, and the need for a clear vision and strategy that organization members can buy into.
Probably one of the most dominant emotional reactions towards emotional change consists of anxiety and fear. Change means venturing out into the unknown and exploring uncharted territory. It may come with bad surprises and may potentially be accompanied by personal losses. Whenever change is mentioned in a corporate context, the possibility of new job descriptions, reorganization of teams or possibly even downsizing and job loss will always be silently understood as being part of the range of possible outcomes. As a result, the gut reaction of many individuals towards change will boil down to nervousness or even outright fear.
The negative emotions of frustration and anger can come up in the context of a change process, particularly if the latter is led in a top-down orientation and does not provide opportunities for empowerment and buy-in. In such a change scenario, the recipients feel that decisions are made “over their heads”, without room for input or involvement. Frustration and anger may also result from disruptions that occur as part of the change process. Those can be of a physical nature (e.g., restructuring of the workspace), an intellectual nature (e.g., changes in procedures or IT tools) or a social nature (e.g., disruptions of social links with team members due to reassignments).
Another basic emotional pair involved in early reactions to change is disappointment and sadness. Change always means parting ways with the past. It means letting go of traditions, habits and customs. For many individuals, changing the way things are done implies a negative judgment about what was done in the past. “If we need to change it that means that what we have done so far was not good…”, or so the thinking goes. As a result individuals may feel unrecognized for their past efforts, eventually leading to disappointment with management and sadness at the individual level.
The likelihood for organizational change to succeed will increase dramatically when change leaders manage to replace dominant negative emotions by positive ones. Here is a brief overview of the range of positive emotions that can be activated in a process of organizational change.
Doing new things does not necessarily have to be frightening. Whenever new roads are taken, the emotional reactions can be channeled towards surprise and interest. While past routines may have been comforting they may also have been a source of boredom. Injecting change into a corporate environment may push individuals out of their comfort zone but may serve to provide them with fresh momentum, thereby providing surprise and excitement and re-energizing the workplace.
Very often, change allows for experimentation and experimentation can be fun. When change leaders manage to present a change initiative as something that is not set in stone but that leaves room for personal initiative, creativity, innovation and experimentation, there is a real potential for generating amusement.
When the initial stages of a change process are led in such a way that the audience perceives empowerment the end-result may be buy-in and perceived ownership of the process. The perception of “they did it to us” will be replaced by the idea that “we did it ourselves, we did it our way, and we succeeded”. As a consequence, individuals will feel part of the change process, rather than seeing themselves as objects, and may feel joy and pride in the outcomes that have been achieved jointly.
When change leaders manage to turn negative emotions into positive ones, the final emotional end result may be relief. This brings the emotion wheel full circle. Individuals will come to the conclusion that “things were not as bad as expected”, that “we were in it together” and “after all, what we have achieved is better than what we had before”. What better outcome could a positive change leader hope for!