The Y-Curve

Resistance to change is one of the most significant but least considered issues. This is because many people view opposition as a negative issue, something to go into battle with and defeat. However, unless people are already moving in the direction of a proposed transformation then it is natural to expect some form of resistance. This might be minimal, such as the odd joke or sarcastic comment about the new corporate uniform; or major, such as company-wide industrial action triggered by proposed downsizing. Although these two examples are different in scale, they follow the same underlying process that is a natural response in reaction to something people regard as unfair or inappropriate.

Although it is impossible to identify every type of behaviour where resistance is being enacted, there are a number of common reactions that are observed as people experience the adaption process (Kubr, 1976).

The core problem with all of these issues is that resistance often occurs when people do not feel engaged by the change process. In general, people can live with what they know but find it difficult to live with the unknown.

The first reaction to such resistance is to question ‘how do we minimize any response to the proposed change?’ But all this means is that valuable time is spent on avoidance routines, trying to work out ways to hide the elements that people might not like. For example, think about the hours people spend trying to find a politically correct way to present an idea that is obviously not politically correct. Hence the rebadging of ‘downsizing’ to ‘rightsizing’ or ‘decruit’ as a way to manage people out of a business in a controlled way. All of these actions indicate a change process that is being squeezed through the back door rather than being presented honestly.

Natural resistance

It is normal for individuals, teams, organization or even nations to react adversely when faced with something different or unexpected. This reaction can be mapped in the form of a Y-Curve, one that maps time against the stages the individual(s) will pass through. The Y-Curve is a powerful and effective change model that clearly maps many of the feelings associated with change and learning. People will especially feel these emotions where the change process affects their self-esteem or position in an organization.

Letting Go

The Y-Curve consists of two distinct stages (that may overlap). The first stage is the ‘Letting-Go’ or Disposal stage. This is where people learn they will have to modify how they currently think, feel or behave and be expected to adopt a new set of behaviours.  Such a change in a person's lifestyle can push them over the edge of the cliff into a downward spiral. External events, or stressors such as the death of a significant other, personal injury, illness, or change of residence will tend to force a person out of secure patterns. While the loss of a loved one through death, or divorce, is unquestionably shattering, humans mourn other losses as well: The end of a secure relationship, Loss of a homeland, Loss of favourite job or even access to the local playing field to play soccer can be quite devastating for some people. Humans experience grief anytime their life role is seriously changed and can be seen move down the slope. An important process in this stage of the cycle is to allow the person to express their feelings. Don't try to "sunshine" them out of it or distract them from what they need to express. Recognize outbursts of anger as a natural part of the grieving process and expect people to because selfish, childish and angry. They may well experience concern, denial, shock, worry, anger. grief, excitement. depression and frustration This is the normal process and one that needs to be supported not shut down. Importantly watch out in case you or the client tend to avoid these people just because they might be difficult to deal with.

Letting Go phase

Before people can adapt and adopt the news ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that must unlearn - to be able to let go of the maps that are of further use. Which is not the same as throwing away ideas. The brain doesn't erase memories, it changes the connections, renewing some, letting others fade away, under a form of selection. When we remember we recreate memories, based on those strengthened or weakened connections. In order to rebuild or cognitive maps and emotional memories, we have to throw away the old pattern.[i]

However, simply letting go of knowltedge is not always as easy as it sounds. The simple fact that knowledge is associated with power, prestige and political clout means that we are often loath to simply release it for others to use. In addition, unlearning is emotionally difficult because the old way of doing things has worked for a while and become embedded in our beliefs and behaviours.[ii] We have to shift from the comfortable domain in the existing organisational environment and be prepared to migrate to the new form. This is based on the premise that we will be able to discard and forgo any existing mental models that might have held the status quo. This can be difficult because we often remain prisoners of our conceptual framework, where there is a general reluctance to leave the old way of thinking.[iii]

This suggests that the disposal process is critical to the change process. However, the proposition is that it is one that is rarely considered. Few change programmes really consider the process of unlearning and how to help people make redundant ideas and feelings and how it might be managed out of the system. Unless we learn how to let go of past and redundant beliefs, then we will find it difficult to accept and embrace new forms of knowledge

Looking Forward

Once people have been able to let go and dispose of the old way of thinking and feeling, then they can start to journey to discover the new ways of being that is expected of them. The discovery phase is the point when people will look forward in anticipation of what is to come.

Discovery is the process by which we enhance the quantity and quality of our ability to think, feel and behave. This might be through a range of processes, including reading, writing, conference presentations, working along-side someone, daydreaming, or working in a management team. The one thing they all have in common is the acquisition of knowledge.

Looking Forward phase

At this stage in the change cycle the new thoughts and feelings do not have to be newly created, only new to the individual or organization. British Petroleum gives a Thief of the Year Award to the person who has "stolen" the best ideas in application development. The company recognizes that, when it comes to organizational knowledge, originality is less important than usefulness. Texas Instruments has created a ‘Not Invented Here, but I Did It Anyway’ award for borrowing a practice from either inside or outside the company. The knowledge-focused firm needs to have appropriate knowledge available when and where it can be applied, not just generate new ideas for their own sake.

The important point about the discovery phase is that people have to make a decision to let go of the past and move forward. Critically, this is a choice that must be made by the individual and not imposed by an outside agent. This might be an explicit decision in the form of a conscious choice to accept that they have to think, feel or behave in a new way. This might be someone who looks in the mirror and realises that they really do need to get fitter or the company that finally accepts that the current processes are not up to scratch and they need to look for new operating models. Or it might be a tacit decision – an emerging acceptance that things must change. This might be the realisation that a couple come to when they accept that problems in their relationship need to be addressed or the organisation that slowly begin to focus on the real issues as more and more people surface the shadows and talk about the problems they face. Critically it is the fact that the decision must own and internalised. Without this then the change will be short-lived. For example lots of people go on a training course – but few learn. So often they have been sent by the boss and did not make the personal choice to change. Without this conscious choice to change then little knowledge acquisition or change will occur.

The important thing is that this is building block to the value to be created from the change, unless people are helped to look forward and get out of the dip that they may have hit with the letting go phase then their personal performance will diminish over time. If the personal performance of people in the organisation dips, then so will the business performance, no matter how robust the management systems and processes might be.

Y-Curve

As we bring the two stages of Disposal and Discovery together we se the emergence of the Y-Curve. This is a representation of the pattern that people who have to go through a change process will tend to follow through as seen in Figure 29 .

Y-Curve

The important thing to note with the Y-Curve is the shaded area on Y curve where the Dispose and Discover phases cross. This is the point of the doldrums where nothing is moving. The person has disposed of the old way of thinking and feeling but hasn’t climbed up the discover side to find a new way of being. The name of the Doldrums comes from the Lethargians, who are minute creatures that live in perpetual boredom in the Doldrums from The Phantom Tollbooth. They change colours to match their surroundings and sometimes enforce laws against thinking and laughing. The Lethargians spend their life busily doing nothing:

Walk through any organisation that has embarked on a change process that is not working well. Find business teams where people feel that they are not being supported, told what to do or where they are going and you will get a sense of the doldrums. This is people who are angry, moaning to each other, busily searching the web for the latest free software and doing anything they can to fill the day.

The essence of the Phantom Tollbooth story is that that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. In the same way it is a terrible waste to push people into the crutch of the Y-Curve and not have a ladder by which they help themselves to climb out. This is the role of the consultant in the 7Cs. To act as an expert, not to pull people put, but to offer strategies to the client by which people can be helped to find this way up the Discovery curve and back to peak performance.

The D-Spot

Although the next section considers many of the change strategies that can be employed to pull people of out the dip, the one consistent activity that will help anyone who enters the Y-Curve is to help them understand WHY. Why has the change happened, why does it affect them, why should they give up what they are doing and why do they have to do something new in the future. Without the WHY factor then people will often fail to step through the Y-Curve and simply revert back to their old ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.

The critical point on the Y-Curve is the point where the Dispose phase meets the Discover phase. This is the D-Spot of the point where a conscious or unconscious decision needs to be made This is the choice to move forward into the next stage or to reject the potential change and regress back to the previous way of thinking and feeling.

 As people go down the disposal curve they will naturally get upset, angry and despondent. They will fall down the curve until they reach a point where they say enough is enough (either concisely or subconsciously) this is point where one of three decisions can be taken. The first choice that people might make is to go back to point (1). In this case they will say this future position is not for me and refuse to go forward. This often happens in organisation that are embedded in rigid bureaucratic models, government organisations or family firms where change seems quite untenable for people who want to hold on to the current status quo. Point (2) is where people hit the low point and don’t come out. They just sit in the feeling angry, upset and as a consequence can be quite disruptive. Point (3) is where people choose internalise the future and move out of the dip and into the new way of thinking, feeling and behaving.

The important thing is that this is a choice, although not one that people are always conscious of. The role of the consultant and client is to manage the D-Spot and to help all the participants in the change process make the decision that will support the overall transformation the client wishes to achieve. The converse is that a failure to consciously address what choices people are likely to make at the D-Spot is what often leads to successful short-term change but failed long term change.

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(c) Mick Cope