[OSList] OST for big changes in company

Fri Jun 10 11:13:33 PDT 2016

Dear Karolina,

I am sure I am stating the obvious in what I am writing. I am not providing
solutions, answers or recommendations. Nonetheless, perhaps some of what
I've described will be useful, added to what others have contributed.

Without knowing what the news is or how much people will be impacted by it
(job losses, changes in roles and responsibilities, sale of a company or a
division, relocation, reasons for the board to be making the decision
(imposed or by choice), financial decision, market, etc?  - my inclination
is to focus on sharing the facts as directly and simply as possible,
explaining the context of what led to the decision and what's known and not
known.

Perhaps some people will view this major change as positive for themselves
whereas others will see it as a major loss. A mix of guilt and fear, anger,
frustration, hope, relief because some individuals sensed it was coming
whereas for others, it came as a complete surprise. All these reactions can
happen at the same time. Nothing predictable. We need to make space for
those reactions without creating an event to do so. In a business as usual
sort of way that is respectful. There will be time later to focus on the
future.

Without judging the circumstances and as much as we would want leaders and
their senior teams to be involving people broadly on critical decisions and
major changes, we all know that this rarely happens. The fact that this
major change was known by the board "some time ago" and has not been shared
until now needs to be explained. If not, then the distrust will be even
greater and any overtures to invite, involve and include will be met with
great skepticism and distrust.  Individuals on the receiving end also need
time to understand and process the information. When we hear bad news the
first time, we don't quickly understand it, nor do we hear it accurately.
Too many emotions.

To further compound it, once leaders have made their decisions and are
ready to announce, how soon they forget what it was to not know, to live
with the uncertainty, the fear, etc.  They are ready to move on when others
are not; they want to mitigate the negative impact to the business and
forget to leave time and space for people to have their  own "aw shit"
moments, alone and together.

How often I have seen leaders and others misjudge the early negative
reactions when people on the receiving end  are trying to absorb bad news.
Applying labels like "not a team player" or "immature".  Applauding those
who seem to be more in control of their emotions when in fact, the opposite
is true; they are just as aggrieved if not more as the others.

So Karolina as I describe all this, perhaps what I'm saying is that "less
is more".  No similar stories (they will never feel like their own story),
no designing the "best experience for change" just giving people the facts
and some room to breathe and absorb.  Inviting leaders "to let go" is a
mammoth task but surprisingly when people are given time and space to vent,
space seems to open for a new future to be created.

Thank you Karolina for asking us. I appreciated the opportunity to relive
experiences from my past -- before I had ever heard of Open Space. It
reminded me of the great value of "not doing" versus "doing too much, too
fast".

Suzanne

Suzanne Daigle
Open Space Facilitator
NuFocus Strategic Group

FL 941-359-8877
Cell: 203-722-2009
www.nufocusgroup.com
s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
Twitter @Daiglesuz

On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 9:53 AM, Karolina Iwa via OSList <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> dear group,
>
> i am seeking advice and stories.
>
> on monday i have a meeting with the board of a company we've been
> supporting for the last year in their growth. some time ago they decided to
> make a major change (cannot get into more details at this point), which
> most probably a. will make quite some people in the company experience
> negative emotions and b. is coming quite unexpectedly.
>
> the board intends at designing the best change experience they can in the
> moment of communicating the changes and after.
>
> we intend to open the space after the news has been shared + the reasons
> behind it & consequences for the company & employees have been
> communicated, so i am wondering - from your experience:
>
> - what would be similar stories you took part in / heard of?
> - what can be helpful / should we pay attention to while preparing the
> meeting for the board and with the board preparing the whole organisation
> meeting?
>
> thanks in advance for sharing.
>
> karolina.
>
>
>
> ____________________________________
> *karolina iwa*
> social innovation
> senior facilitator
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