Five Tips for Sustaining Change

© 2005, Coert Visser

Change processes can sometimes stagnate and old problems can turn up again. Often this leads to disappointwiment and pessimism. But in many cases the change process can be revitalized by very simple means. The five tips mentioned in this article have time and again proven their usefulness.

A department was trying to implement a culture change in which more discipline and sticking better to agreements were important goals. The change process had started and had at first led to promising results. After about one and a half year, it became obvious that the change process was no longer proceeding well. Several old problems reappeared and there were no clear signs of progress.

With long lasting change processes in organizations managers sometimes worry about the possibility that at a certain moment stagnation or a set-back might happen. After a promising start the change process can lose its momentum. The energy disappears, the progress in the direction of the goal seems to be gone, people seem to go back to business as usual, old problems come back, and cynicism about the desired change turns up. To worry about these things is understandable because it is not uncommon that periods of stagnation and set-backs happen in change programs. The solution-focused approach to organizational change offers some practical tips for managers to deal with these phenomena.

Tip 1: Don’t focus on stagnation when it is not yet a problem
Many change managers begin to warn about stagnation, set-backs, and cynicism when it is not yet happening. But by doing this they focus the attention on something that does not necessarily have to occur. People involved in the change process could become pessimistic through such warnings or they could get discouraged. They can even feel they are being underestimated. Talking about stagnation that might occur could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But major stagnation and set-backs certainly do not always happen! Solution-focused change practitioners use the principle:

“If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”.

They don’t try to solve problems of stagnation and set-backs in advance but only when they occur, if they occur at all…

Tip 2: Look for signs that indicate that change will be maintainedSometimes people think it is important to take measure to prevent stagnation and set-backs. If youti decide to do that the way you do it is important. Steve De Shazer, the solution-focused pioneer from Milwaukee, says:

“People are trained to look for signs of a set-back. But we train people to look for signs that indicate that with this change there will be no set-back.”

By focusing attention on signs that the change will continue the people involved will get a better sight on the factors that help the change so that they can use these. The question of De Shazer is an example of question which is often used in the solution-focused approach: what reasons for optimism do you see? This type of question often works very well because it strengthens optimism and the confidence needed for change.

Tip 3: Normalize it when it happensWhen stagnation and set-backs happen it is often useful to apply the technique of normalizing. This means that you help people to see that what happens is normal. This helps to keep people from getting discouraged and losing confidence in the feasibility of the change. One manager applies normalizing by making a comparison with the stock market.

“If you look at stock price bdevelopment from a distance you see a steadily growing line. But if you look closer you see many fluctuations, some large some small. It is like that with organizational change. Overall it goes up but from day to day there may be set-backs and disappointments, sometimes small, sometimes larger. That is only normal. This is why every now and then you have to take a step back in order to keep sight on the steadily growing line that you can only see when looking from a distance.”

Tip 4: Focus on what has been achieved so farAt moments when things don’t seem to go well in a change process it is often useful to focus closely on what has been achieved, how that was done and what advantages it has brought. By doing this people usually come to realize that more things have gone right than they had thought and they usually find new confidence, optimism and focus. Furthermore, they find new ideas to get the change going again and to start making progress.

Tip 5: Apply again what worked beforeWhen a set-back happens people can sometimes wonder how to progress forward. But there is a simple answer that is often very useful. Many times, set-backs are caused by attention slipping away and by forgetting to apply effective solutions. In many cases we see that simply starting to apply again what has worked before will bring new life to the change process. This is similar to the Rose of Jericho.

The Rose of Jericho is a plant from the desert of Mexico. When it does not get water it dries out and becomes grey and breakable. It can stay like this for a surprisingly long time. But when it receives water again it gets its natural green color back and it starts to flourish again. This can be repeated over and over.

Bringing new life to stagnating change
Of course change processes can stagnate and of course old problems can turn up again. And often this leads to disappointment and pessimism. But just as often the change process can be revitalized by very simple means. The five tips mentioned in this article have proven their use many times. The department manager from the case at the beginning of this article applied them.

The department manager called for a meeting about the change process. He emphasized that it was normal to be confronted with a set-back and invited all to make a list of everything that had been achieved since the start of the change process. About every thing they mentioned he asked what its advantages were and how they had managed to achieve it. This inquiry led to an impressive amount of material and the spirit of the meeting changed remarkably. The enthusiasm for the change goals grew and people regained their pride and hope. Next, the manager invited every participant to formulate which concrete results they wanted to achieve for the coming period and which small steps they would take in order to achieve them. This led to a very nice list of small goals and steps. The energy for change had been low for a period but after this session it was back without a doubt.