TED - The Key to Navigating Change With Confidence | Kristy Ellmer | TED
The speaker shares a personal story of working at an airline that declared bankruptcy, leading to layoffs. Initially skeptical, they learned that being laid off can be a positive change, as it forces individuals out of career ruts and into new opportunities. Research showed that laid-off employees often found better career paths, started businesses, or learned new skills. This experience shaped the speaker's belief that change, even when forced, can be beneficial if approached with curiosity and patience.
The speaker, now a transformation leader, emphasizes that change is constant and often resisted due to biological wiring. They highlight that successful change management involves humanizing the process by understanding individual motivations and managing cognitive load. Five primary motivators for change are identified: personal achievement, customers, teams, community, and financial outcomes. Leaders should address these motivators to inspire change. Additionally, measuring cognitive load through surveys helps adjust workloads and support individuals effectively. By humanizing change and addressing motivations, organizations can overcome resistance and achieve positive outcomes.
Key Points:
- Change can be positive, forcing individuals into new opportunities.
- Understanding personal motivations is key to successful change management.
- Five motivators: personal achievement, customers, teams, community, financial outcomes.
- Measure cognitive load to adjust workloads and support individuals.
- Humanizing change helps overcome resistance and achieve positive outcomes.
Details:
1. đź’ˇ A Career-Changing Revelation
- At age 24, the speaker faced a pivotal career moment while working at a historic airline that declared bankruptcy, leading to difficult decisions like layoffs.
- The experience was distressing for long-serving employees, highlighting the emotional impact of job insecurity.
- A facilitator prompted a shift in perspective by questioning the negative view of layoffs, suggesting they could be beneficial.
- This challenge led the speaker to reassess the situation, viewing job loss as a potential opportunity rather than a setback.
- The revelation influenced the speaker's approach to career challenges, fostering resilience and a proactive mindset.
2. 🔄 Finding Opportunity in Forced Change
- Research indicated that laid-off employees often found their situation to be advantageous, supported by severance packages and network recommendations.
- These individuals leveraged the opportunity to escape career stagnation, securing new jobs with growth potential, starting businesses, learning new skills, or returning to education.
- The core belief is that change, even if involuntary, can be beneficial if met with curiosity and patience.
- In facing significant changes, reflecting on potential positive outcomes can be advantageous.
- Examples included those who utilized severance to fund new ventures or education, highlighting the importance of a supportive network and strategic financial planning.
3. 🌍 Leading Through Transformation
- A transformation leader has delivered billions in value and improved employee experience globally.
- Worked with a global manufacturer to reskill their organization, enhancing workforce capabilities.
- Partnered with a mining company to achieve profitability from near closure, demonstrating effective turnaround strategies.
- Key insight: Change is constant and frequent; however, 75% of corporate transformations fail due to resistance to change.
- Successful change management involves overcoming natural resistance and leveraging intellectual potential for growth.
- Implemented strategies include employee reskilling and turnaround management, which have proven effective in various industries.
4. 🧠Motivations Behind Change: A Human Element
- Leaders should humanize change by writing and sharing personal change stories to clarify and reinforce individual motivations for change.
- The Behavioral Science Lab at BCG identified five primary motivators: personal achievement, customers, teams, community, and financial outcomes.
- Personal achievement is driven by career milestones, promotions, and exclusive project opportunities.
- Customer motivation focuses on improving products and services based on customer feedback.
- Team motivation centers on the work environment and relationships with colleagues, often outweighing financial incentives.
- Community motivation emphasizes the company's role in making the world a better place through programs like cancer awareness or food drives.
- Financial outcomes are driven by potential monetary benefits of change.
- A survey of 100 people showed an even split in motivation across the five categories, suggesting leaders leave 60% unmotivated if focusing only on financial and personal achievements.
- A mining company's transformation story highlighted all motivators: financial, customer, team, and community, showing the power of a comprehensive motivator approach.
5. 🚀 Cognitive Load: The Key to Managing Change
- AI-driven email segmentation allows tailored communications, addressing individual motivators like team dynamics or financial incentives.
- Organizations often mismanage change by assuming uniform capacity across employees, neglecting personal circumstances such as personal issues that affect workload capacity.
- Measuring cognitive load—comprising confidence and capacity—through surveys can help adjust workloads and improve individual performance.
- A simple survey asking team members about their emotional state and capacity to juggle roles at work and home can provide insights into their cognitive load.
- Post-survey, those thriving can be given more challenging opportunities, while those struggling can receive workload adjustments or targeted support.
- Enhancing confidence in struggling employees can be achieved by interventions like motivational notes from trusted leaders.
- Recognizing and humanizing change efforts can mitigate natural resistance to change by understanding individual motivations and cognitive loads, ultimately leading to better change management outcomes.