The countdown to July 1 2015 is on. This is the deadline for full transition to Consumer Directed Care for all Home Care Packages. Being successful means potential growth and remaining relevant in the new competitive environment. The stakes are high and the successful design and transition to Consumer Directed Care is a challenge. We often hear these two questions – ‘Where do we start?’ and ‘How do we get everyone on board?’
The change and transition journey will demand purposeful leadership and resilient management. Those guiding the development and implementation of the new ways will need to stand firm against resistance towards doing things differently within a new model where the consumer assumes control.
Successful organisations will make sure people are well equipped for the journey ahead. Understanding how people are reacting and engaging with the change can make a big difference to productivity and end results. These outcomes go beyond having an agreed change process, (which of course you will need), to developing capabilities to identify and respond to the resistance, doubt and confusion that accompanies change. Leaders and managers will need to be aware of how best to lead and communicate throughout the process.
The Four Rooms of Change, the work of Swedish psychologist Claes Janssen, forms the basis of the work we have done with many aged and community care organisations as they move through change and transition. The Four Rooms or four different frames of mind are
Contentment where everything is going well until the change need arrives, in this case CDC.
People shift into Self-Censorships and Denial where ‘hopes for the future create defense of the past’. Feelings are censored. Hopes focus on going back to the way things were.
In Confusion the old ways have unraveled and the new ways are unclear. People need to find the pathways to the future.
In Renewal and Inspiration there are many ideas and possibilities. Innovation and creativity are high. The need is to pick a few new ideas and start to work and refine them, which is best done in Contentment.
Marvin Weisbord, the organizational development legend and author of the quintessential management text Productive Workplaces, outlined his thought on what leaders and managers can do in change and transition, particularly in each of the four rooms:
ContentmentFine tune processes and systems
Inspiration and Renewal
Provide structure around priorities
Self-censorship and Denial
Use illustrative examples of success
Confusion
Get people together and focus on the future
Know which room your people and work teams are in!
Know where to place your efforts:
- In Contentment, maintain and fine-tune processes and system so they can support the new ways and approaches.
- In Self-censorship and Denial people cannot hear what you are saying and find it hard to engage, so never force advice. Show examples of where the new ways, in part or full, have worked well. Welcome input.
- In Confusion get people together and focus on the future. Kick some short-term goals. This keeps people grounded and builds commitment. In Confusion people are also receptive to learning and training so build capacity in the new knowledge, skills and attitudes.
- In Inspiration and Renewal give people structure and let them put the ‘new’ together.
Lynda Jones: the noa group
Lynda is a certified practitioner of the Four Rooms of Change