Employees See "Death" When You Change Their Routines

The headline is a bid dramatic, but the point is made.  If you have experienced a reaction to change "that's far bigger and more negative than anything you expected," and you blamed yourself for doing something wrong, it may be that you did everything right "except underestimate [the employee's] fear of death," according to the blog post, Employees See Death When You Change Their Routines.

Even employees with a "normal" fear of death may need a little coaching to adjust to a big change.  So any change requiring a little change management may be implemented more successfully by heeding the authors' suggestions, including:

• "If there's to be a rethinking of culture, create a detailed and nuanced justification for why beliefs and values need to change — culture shift is less threatening if it's honestly framed as a needed adaptation.
• "And leaders should acknowledge that change equals loss. Otherwise they'll appear clueless."

The Harvard Business Review blog post is at Employees See Death When You Change Their Routines.

This summary was prepared by Perry Cone and posted at www.leadinginhouse.com/
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