Fear of change and containing it

Last week I tried to describe my very unpleasant feelings when I was told we were moving  to a new home. As a adult I find the idea of moving house pretty exciting, so it is not surprising that the average parent might not immediately appreciate that their sense of moving forward, to a better area or nicer home, may not be shared by their kids. Many parents do not think children are entitled to be consulted or involved in major decisions, and my parents were old school. I am not sure, if I am honest, that I consulted my own kids that much about homes, or schools or even major purchases or where we went on holiday.

Now let’s consider major change at work. Change is necessary because our environment changes, or because we change our strategy.

Notting Hill’s board has decided that merging with another housing association will bring great benefits for London, for people in housing need, for our staff, tenants and shareholders. We are currently talking to each stakeholder group about the benefits we believe will accrue.

But we knew and expected that those affected by the change – people who live in our homes and our staff – would initially (for the most part) greet the information with dread. The very first thought they would have would be one of loss, however “illogical” that may be. Will I lose my job? Will I lose my home? This would be the first thought any of us might have when we hear of something like this. It is natural and hard wired into us. When I heard, as a ten year old, I was moving home I assumed “bullies” would physically and psychologically hurt me. I didn’t even have much experience of bullies, so I think I was imagining being excluded from a circle of friendship that I relied on. My sense was of rejection, isolation, and feelings of fear that I couldn’t even rationally express. These were very strong, almost overwhelming and unbearable feelings, not things that could be easily dealt with by a rational sentence or two from my parents.

So based on our knowledge of how major change feels, and understanding the psychological processes we need to go through to come to terms with loss, we can help our kids deal with death, or help a friends come to terms with divorce, or support our colleagues deal with major change at work.

When we announced the merger plan to our tenants and other residents the first thing we did was to reassure them that their home was safe, they would not lose their home, their rent would not go up or down by more than was originally planned, and that their tenancy agreement (including their rights and responsibilities) would not change. We understood that on hearing about a merger it would be normal and natural to respond in a fearful way. We wanted to say something like “although we will be integrating two separate organisations nothing will change”. Of course we cannot say this as an absolute guarantee. Rents change every year – usually by inflation, but sometimes they go up by slightly more, and sometimes they go down. So it is difficult to say something categorical like “your rents will not change”. We want to be absolutely reassuring but we end up saying “rents will not go up because of the merger” or “we will not put the rents up by more than we were planning to anyway” – these statements are true, but they do not have the same effect as saying “no change”. Similarly with our staff – the fear of job loss is inevitably top of mind. I want to say something like “you job is safe”, but what I actaully say is something like:

“We spent a lot of money on recruiting and training you. We invest annually on retaining you by providing good wages and conditions, and “perks” like parties, awaydays and wellbeing events. We value the work you do everyday, sometimes in difficult and challenging circumstances. We think you are great and we couldn’t run anything without you. The jobs you are doing will still need doing after a merger. So why would we want to fire you or make you redundant? We will be making some savings, but every year around 15% or 20% of staff move on to go to new jobs. Natural turnover will mean we can gradually decrease the numbers where we find there is overlap. Similarly we will be making some changes as departments come together. As your managers create and design new teams they will work with the staff involved to co-create what we will need. You will be involved and consulted before any change is made.”

Signing the Union recognition agreement

I have said words to this effect more than once, and many of our staff believe me to be sincere. They have experienced our promises over the years and they may have also experienced our current change management processes. This will reassure them that we
• only do necessary change
• tell our staff what is happening as early as possible and as often as necessary
• don’t hide the reasons or the realities but share the principles and parameters of what changes we are making and we ask for their help
• value their skills and abilities, their commitment and values and we want to retain those who have made a commitment to us
• will do all we can to avoid compulsory redundancies and wherever possible we will avoid voluntary redundancies, giving staff a chance to try new roles with support and training so they can be redeployed and retained in our organisation
• when we have to make changes we seek staff views and suggestions about what they are happy to change, and what they want to retain. Managers rarely appreciate all  these factors – and will certainly lack sufficient sensitivity when two different organisations are merger. Therefore it is especially important to ask, involve and delegate. Usually budget and legal frameworks constrain our decision making, but within these boundaries there is always the opportunity for great flexibility. We expect our front line teams to do the designing, and we will implement their proposals.

By giving this kind of feedback we seek to reassure our residents and staff that they are safe, they can have a significant and genuine control, and that what we are doing is both necessary and will bring positive benefits to our teams and customers.

My final instalment on containment is coming next week.