What Change Management can learn from Mediation

People hate change; In my experience, people feel it’s something done to them rather than something they have any choice in or indeed over. Most professionals know the change curve. As a mediator, the curve is much more than that - it’s about loss. In mediation we see loss in many ways; a loss of respect, a loss of voice, a loss of autonomy. 

Change is no different. Regardless of the size of the change, those impacted by it will feel some level of loss and we as human beings will do what we can to mitigate that loss. There are three key reasons for this:

People build habits and routines. Being told they must now change those, sometimes with little or no warning or via poor communication will encourage resistance as the status quo, regardless of whether it works or not, is easier to stick with than learning something new. Doing something new with people we may not know results in a loss of control, certainty and understanding, in the short term at least.

People want to be part of the herd; we want to fit in. If there is a culture of resistance to change, then breaking this will feel like you are trying to turn the Titanic because its unlikely people will openly go against the majority view. Doing so results in a loss of respect from their peers and a loss of status.

The change curve is underpinned by emotional reactions, and yet in the majority of projects I have been involved in, it almost feels surprising when people react emotionally. As a mediator I see how hard it is to talk about emotions; it’s very uncomfortable allowing what feels like a loss of control over one’s self. Many change projects appear to avoid this and instead focus on skill sets, processes, policies and procedures like they are some form of organisational security blanket.  

When mediating we learn very quickly that these 3 points must be tackled in order to invoke a change in mindset of the parties involved, moving them from destructive conflict to resolution. We do this in three ways:

Whilst you may invite discussion, ideas and comments from those affected by the change, do you truly listen, or is this part of the process to get through to reach the next stage? I delivered a team mediation recently where the team members had issues with a recent change in workload and work allocation. Not one of them questioned the need for the change – they had readily accepted the old way didn’t work. What they took issue with was they had been asked for their opinions which they felt were then not taken on board. They had identified certain pitfalls, particularly that the amount of work per case differed greatly. They had raised this, but were now faced with a process that focused on the number of cases each person was working on, not the volume of work for each case.

It is often not possible to incorporate peoples’ ideas and recommendations, but you must demonstrate you have listened. Be honest with your workforce as to why suggestions have not been implemented. Take time to help them understand the change. If you have particularly vocal members of staff, speak to them one on one in an open and honest way.

Language is a vital part of the mediation process. For example, whilst a party may come in saying someone is a bully, we will always seek to understand what that means to them and reframe to more neutral or positive language. In this example it would be by the party explaining the behaviours and impact that have led them to feel that way.

Change management is no different; I used to see people react negatively the minute they would hear “we are changing…”. If you are implementing change, how could you reframe this so at the very least the reaction is more neutral and open? If it’s the introduction of a new performance management process which from my experience as a mediator is a massive source of conflict in itself, could you instead frame it as a career discussion, or progress update? The language you use will depend on your organisation, but try and incorporate frames that invite interest and neutral responses.

Finally:

This is not about just acknowledging people will be concerned about the change or recognising people will be moving through the change curve. Its about deep understanding on the emotional impact change has. Change is frightening because of the loss people connect with as a result so react in a human way to it. Give them a chance to vent and show empathy for their situation. Whilst the emotion may still be there, from experience knowing they have felt heard and have the difficulty they are facing being acknowledged helps people take a massive first step to letting go and therefore being able to move forward.

This week is International Mediation Awareness Week 2020 - and it's absolutely free to attend. Throughout the week there will be many webinars, discussions, mock mediations and chances to talk directly to mediators from every field of mediation. I’ll be covering workplace mediation through the following sessions:

• Monday 9^th November at 11am: Mock Workplace Mediation
• Monday 9^th November at 2pm: Mental Health in Mediation
• Wednesday 11^th November at 2.30pm: Managing Conflict (including more on reducing conflict during change!)
• Thursday 12^th November at 12.30pm: Meet the Mediator

We look forward to meeting you.