Leading change is like digging in dry sand. As soon as you pull out your shovel, the sides fall right back in. This thought hit me this year when digging in the sand at Cannon Beach with my daughter, Leah. We giggled as we’d dig a hole and the sand would fall back in as fast as we could get the shovel back down. That’s when it hit me: I often see clients trying to affect change in a similar way. They dig out the part that’s going away, but before real change can occur old habits and resistance keep falling in the hole and stopping up their progress.
So what do you do? Well, one option is to wet the sand before digging the hole, right? By doing so, you make the sand “sticky.” With wet sand you not only dig a secure hole, you can shape it along the way. Now mind you, the sand doesn’t stay wet forever. As it dries the sides will begin to collapse. Leading change is similar: The sand is your people, and sometimes they need a little “wetting” so they stick with you through the transition. In the book “Transitions” by William Bridges, he calls this the Neutral Zone.
So how can you create that Neutral Zone and “wet the sand” when you’re leading a transition and change?
You can begin by focusing on the hole–the empty space your change will create. Become deliberately and consciously aware of what is being taken away. Way too few leaders actually take the time to name and acknowledge what is really ending during a change. By doing so, your team knows that you understand and empathize with their fears, the unknowns and uncertainties that the hole and the change will create. It lets them know you’re with them rather than rushing through to avoid the pain or difficult conversations. Whatever the change: losing a boss, a parent, a job, a product, being sold, downsizing…the part that’s leaving is just the beginning. What are you really losing? What good will be going away? What things will you miss? What is unconsciously habitual that you will suddenly become aware of by its absence? Ignore these things and it’s like digging in dry sand. The fears, doubts and insecurities of your team will come crashing down. But if you honor what is ending, you give yourself and/or your people time to let go. Any transition, even the good ones, are first an ending. Allow time to feel and acknowledge that loss. It’s easier to move on when you have a chance to grieve, even for little things. More times than not, the resistance to change is less about the changes and more about how abruptly they happen.
