Chapter Two
Facts Over Fiction

Because things are the way they are,
things will not stay the way they are.

Bertolt Brecht

Stage 2: Shifting from Doubt to Reality

The angst and wallop of Stage 1—where the workplace change hits and the familiar is lost or will be lost—give way to resistance, skepticism, resentment, and even anger in the stage that follows. We go from squirrelly to some other animal: a mule, a bull, a squint-eyed cat. We can feel we’re being “wrangled” in the wrong direction. Welcome to Stage 2, Doubt.

Having established in Stage 1 that the sky is not falling, you’re now faced with a new challenge: dealing with your doubts about the change. A lot seems unknown. You might have questions both about the initiative and the leadership behind it and about the grounds of your own hesitance: an internal tug-of-war. This stage is present— in a big way—in all organizational change, and managing it well is imperative.

The Noise of Stage 2

In Stage 2 emotions run high. Voices can get loud. There might be some harsh words. Okay, there will be harsh words. With blame and anger circulating, communication challenges are as great as they are in Stage 1.

During company change, the workplace becomes a rumor mill. Or it becomes more of a mill than it already is—a thing souped-up, turbocharged. The swirl of talk starts as soon as an inkling of the transition starts reaching people, and it continues on through the change announcement and implementation. In Stage 2, with employees doubting and some resisting, the yakkety-yak can really get cranking—conspiracy theories, hearsay, protests, accusations, arguments, historical references, predictions. Meanwhile, what everyone really needs is for the noise to stop. They want an opportunity to assess their reactions and responses and figure out what information they need, what specific questions to ask.

Knowing that all the hubbub is natural in Stage 2 but not always productive can help you develop a “filter,” one aimed at letting in the additional data you need while filtering out the loose talk and speculation. Stage 2 is the soapbox stage: people on their little platforms, filling the air with complaints, counterviews. Between them and the change, a lot is coming at you. Installing your own personal noise-filter is an element of maintaining your boundaries.

Without clear message channels up and down the organization, the emotion that is being released during this stage can become wave-like and work against the change, damaging the work environment, slowing productivity. Some employees dig in their heels, convinced of the rightness of their position. Doubt and change-hindering feelings work overtime. In this second red stage, the company challenge is to make sure red remains a traffic-light metaphor, rather than “code-red.”

But there’s good news here. Just as fear exists to increase our caution and alertness, doubt is the brain’s hard-wired way of slowing us down in an unfamiliar situation so we take time to gather information before acting—it is a hedge against rash action or knee-jerk behavior. Doubt pushes us to dig for the facts behind the evolving scenario. You might have to do a little jujitsu with your doubt, however, turning it to your advantage. How? By recognizing that not only is doubt a natural human state during change—a normal Stage 2 response— but in fact it is delivering an important message.

What’s the message saying? Get more data. That’s a central Stage 2 objective. You want to reach for facts, rather than letting doubt bubble you in and create a state where you believe you alone hold The Truth.

We can say the same for anger. Consider it a form of energy. In Stage 1 the change announcement might have left you numb. Stopped you in your tracks. But now you’re feeling something. The blood is starting to flow. Make use of your emotion. Harness it—for motion.

In Stage 2 we change our posture a bit. Instead of feeling as though the change is going to get us, we decide that we are going to get it. Our emotion can fuel our quest. We become more animated. We become another kind of animal. Stage 2 can be a platform enabling you to get a deeper picture of the change (thus creating momentum), or it can turn into a time of conflict and resistance. At the end of the day, the choice is yours.

Your goal is to accentuate fact-finding and discourage the tendency toward blame and defensiveness. Ask yourself: What kind of information do I need in order to have a full and accurate picture of the change? Would more high-level or conceptual material help? Do I need the thinking behind the change broken into bit-sized chunks? Lots of detail? And how is my need for more information affecting not only my response but the way I process the change for others?

If you are an employee, be a seeker—of data, of input. If you are a manager or company leader, recognize that clarification of employee roles and responsibilities is often the most overlooked feature on the transition landscape. When change is in the wind, employees immediately begin wondering how their roles and responsibilities will evolve. Clear and regular communication on this front will help minimize employee doubt and resistance.

How We Feel in Stage 2: Resentful

Resentment surfaces in Stage 2. Needless to say, it’s not usually a positive. Resentment carries a “me against you” charge. It can take things downhill. Judging the workplace change an inconvenience, an embarrassment, an insult, or an injustice may have grains of truth (maybe many grains) but that ruling is not likely to improve matters. Blaming the boss, the vendor, the new hire, or the regulatory commission, however justified, is not curative. The only thing that counts: What are you going to do about it now?

How We Think in Stage 2: Skeptically

We need not be totally skeptical about skepticism. In the same way doubt can be said to have an upside, skepticism helps us test-drive something before we buy it. It helps us check the brakes, it keeps us alert. It’s a natural Stage 2 state. Moreover, it can be resourceful if it helps you deepen your analysis, ask good questions, and raise your information standards.

There are two kinds of skepticism. Good skepticism is the detective kind. The Columbo kind (or insert TV detective of your choice). The kind that seeks more information, values truth, and is determined to base conclusions only on the gathered evidence. Bad skepticism is the Doubting Thomas (DT) version. A default setting. A broken record. A reflex. No matter what is introduced, as long as it is something new, the DT Skeptic will doubt, resist, and dismiss, and probably complain via his or her megaphone, too. The DT Skeptic becomes part of “the noise.”

Your goal is to be a Detective-Skeptic. Even, in a sense, when it comes to yourself. Put that Stage 2 squint to work: consider angles, verify claims. Be wary of assumptions, first takes, conjecture, overreliance on past examples, and the soapbox speechifying of others.

How We Act in Stage 2: Resistant

Stage 2 resistance can come in many forms. It can be external and obvious: an employee shouting during an implementation meeting, or sending e-mails trying to rally supporters to back the “old way,” or pointedly slowing down on the job. Or it can be more internal: a less collegial, cooperative attitude in the workplace, perhaps affecting the attitudes of others. Or maybe an employee is taking coworkers aside individually, quietly lobbying.

It could be the resistance is totally inward, even secret—known only to you, the resister. You haven’t bought in but are keeping this to yourself. It might be affecting the quality of your work, but since you’re being so private, your manager can’t do a clear cause-and-effect. The thing is, it’s an alienating state. It’s messing with your attitude. And since the change is happening whether or not you personally sign on, being inwardly anti-change is not going to get you anywhere.

What about unconscious resistance? Could a person not even be aware that anger or resistance regarding the change has altered his or her work performance or attitude? Most psychologists would say yes. For our part, we’ll just say: keep the batteries of your self-assessment charged. Remember to direct that Stage 2 frown at your own thoughts and actions on occasion.

To Know More, Notice More

Here are some behaviors and attitudes that can suggest that you, a coworker, or someone you manage is struggling with this second, doubt-filled stage of The Change Cycle:

• Acts defensive—especially of own point of view
• Pushes a “me vs. them” dynamic
• Shows passive or aggressive anger at decisionmakers
• Blames others for what is happening
• Asks a lot of questions—sometimes the same ones over and over again
• Claims not to understand a clear and repeated concept
• Works slowly, sluggishly, poorly, or behind schedule
• Expresses a lack of trust, even disgust, in facial expressions and body language

And here is some Stage 2 language to listen for:

• “There’s something they’re not telling us.”
• “How does this affect my job?”
• “I don’t think we’re being treated fairly.”
• “What do they want us to do?”
• “I don’t think they understand how things really work!”
• “This does not have the benefits they say it does!”
• “This will probably be handled just like everything else.”
• “I don’t trust the people making these decisions.”

Stage 2: When Open Doors Go Unused

The stew of doubt, anger, and resistance in Stage 2 poses a special problem for middle and lower management, the company’s front line for handling all the emotion and changed workplace behavior that a significant transition brings about. Here are some tips for anyone with management responsibilities when workers are in the thick of this difficult stage:

• “Understand that informal invitations such as, “My door is always open if you have questions” may not be appreciated or utilized
  Many employees in Stage 2 don’t take the initiative to get “official” answers to their questions. One reason for this is simple: they don’t know what they don’t know.
• Consistently ask, “What specific information do you want/need?”
  Employees may not always ask, but they do appreciate information. Be proactive.
• Be visible—assure others you will share valid information as you can
  Anything you can do to keep employees feeling updated and in the loop is a plus.
• Expect employee skepticism
  Their skepticism is normal. It can be a way of asking for more information.
• Create formal and informal communication systems and follow-up procedures
  Create communication systems that include various written and verbal formats. This helps build trust. Employees closely watch how you handle their questions and concerns.
• Have trained people prepared to deal with conflict
  An HR professional trained to deal with conflict resolution is a good Stage 2 resource.

Needed: More Data

Following a corporate merger, Ian, 58, learned he would soon be jobless. To add insult to injury, he was expected to train his replacement. Stunned and despairing, he coped early on by asking those essential first-stage questions, What’s the worst that can happen? and Can I live with that? But in his last weeks on the job, he became angry, resentful, cynical, and skeptical. This state of mind—a bad case of Stage 2—carried over into the weeks after his employment ended.

Luckily the way he conducted himself reflected key early-stage lessons. Even though fuming while training his replacement, he did not have a tantrum or lash out at his bosses, so no bridges were burned in terms of references for any future job. And while buffeted with doubt in those first jobless days (who wouldn’t be?), plagued with questions like How will I pay my bills? and Who will hire me at my age? he did not give in to panic and act impulsively, risking a decision he would regret. Instead, he lived by these smart words: “When in Doubt, Don’t.”

A variation of this adage is “Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There.” In other words, before you take some action, make some proclamation, or latch onto a certain view of something, increase your knowledge base. Determine the information you need, and find out where to get it. Make a data plan. Ian began to gather his facts. He searched online employment sites, visited a professional recruiter, hired a personal coach, and asked everyone he knew for any information or leads they could share to assist in his job search.

Ian’s eagerness to prepare himself for job interviews helped him relinquish his resentment, defensiveness, anger, and blame. He was gradually able to gain a more accurate picture of his future employment chances. He was able to focus on the reality of his new situation. It was this more than anything that reduced his anger. He moved out of Stage 2.

Pinpointing the Point of Resistance

Let’s agree that the resisting state of mind is nonideal when it comes to a change at your company or organization— a change with no chance of not happening. What to do? Help yourself get unstuck by posing and answering these questions:

• Why am I being resistant?
• What specifically am I resisting?
• Who am I resisting?
• How am I acting my resistance out?

Remember the “Pinpointing the Change” exercise in the previous chapter? Here you are pinpointing the point of resistance. What is at the root of your resistance? Is it concern that the change itself is the wrong one or unwarranted? Is it that you believe the change may make theoretical sense but will be poorly implemented? Is it apprehension that the change, whatever its merits, will cause too much upheaval in your workplace? Are you just tired of change?

Pinpointing aids self-awareness, gives a sense of control, and encourages fact-finding.

The Lure of Speculation

Many of us do a lot of speculating when a situation is new. We find ourselves gaming out all the things that could happen down the road, a fair number of them worrisome. And if unknowns were involved in bringing us to this particular pass, we might speculate about all of them, too. After a certain point (say, the line between analysis and flights of fancy), what we’re doing is not helpful. What would help, when you start drawing conclusions based not on evidence but on theories and imagination, would be to hear the booming courtroom voice of television lawyer Perry Mason inside your head: Your Honor, I object—speculation!

Perry Mason was before your time? Well, if you channel-surf, you can find him in reruns.

In a workplace-change context, doing your share of speculating can mean that rather than trying to track down more information, you are conducting your own solo (i.e., inside-your-head) investigation into what the company’s “true motives” were, the many things that could go wrong if the change doesn’t work out, the many ways your life could get lousy fast. Is this helping? Is this a good use of your mental energy? A lot of this kind of speculation can amount to its own form of resistance, and it is usually more trap than tool.

Stage 2 Priority: Getting an Accurate Picture

The key to moving through Stage 2 is being open to finding out the “real deal” behind the change despite our natural tendency to resist the truth of a situation when its newness inspires first fear, then doubt and anger. Mission: discern facts from fiction. It sounds odd to say that doubt and anger could actually help in this process, but properly utilized they can, along with help from an understanding and communicative management team.

In Stage 2, the fog of the first stage starts to lift, and you’re ready to process information. Rather than speculating, clinging to your faith in the old way, or becoming part of the misinformation circuit that along with the rumor mill makes Stage 2 a kind of workplace Babel (or high school hallway?), you want to find . . . Just the facts, ma’am.

Here are some questions designed to assist you in filling information gaps:

V What set of facts would help you most?

• Where is that information?
• Who can help you with your biggest current information question?
• Can you obtain it without crossing professional, ethical, or legal boundaries?
• Are you trying to find the truth, or further your agenda?
• When or how will information be deemed valid by you?
• What new behaviors or actions will this information call for?
• Are you afraid of the consequences of any information?
• Are there any self-imposed obstacles keeping you from getting accurate information?
• What question runs through your mind several times each day?
• What would you suggest that someone else in your shoes do?

Case in Point: CSC Project

The rumors had been denied for months, but everything had been pointing to the outsourcing of the CSC Project to India. Delays in project updates had stalled the implementation plans at the West Regional Site. The sudden air of secrecy about what was actually happening spoke louder than management probably realized.

As project manager for the implementation team, Drew expected that he would be kept in the loop as new developments affected the project. His management style was open, honest, and direct with his team. Up until the past few weeks, the pressure to keep things moving—on time and under budget—had been intense. Drew had his team’s trust, and due to his excellent management skills he was able to keep things on an even keel under the pressure. But then things started to change:

Literally overnight, the communication from above stopped. My boss denied what was going on, but I started connecting the dots between what had and had not been said, and the picture was ugly. All the time, work, and pride we had put into the development, and now the implementation, appeared to be for nothing—the CSC Project was going to be outsourced. Maybe this was an operational and financial win for the company, but it was a big loss for us at West Regional. I am really angry that this has happened and equally angry about how they communicated why this was such a great decision. What bravado to think that as employees we would cheer for a plan that would cost at least 200 people their jobs. Those 200 people are neighbors and friends. At best, over time, the operations cost savings would be minimal. The numbers being used to justify their actions were faulty. We actually have excellent cost controls here. The cost of the start-up training alone will be staggering.

I resent that our dedication and service to this company is so undervalued that they are willing to spend dollars to save nickels.

Sarah had coordinated vendors at the West Regional Site for as long as anyone could remember. Her negotiating skills combined with her magnetic personality had saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. Sarah had built strategic alliances and solid relationships with the vendor companies, and they would do anything for her.

These past few weeks have been the worst of my career. Every day I get directives from “above” to halt production or stop delivery on some part of the CSC Project, with not one word of explanation. My vendors are panicking and I don’t know what to tell them. Surely they wouldn’t scrap the CSC Project at this point? We’d lose a fortune settling vendor contracts. I pride myself on being a team player, but I am completely in the dark here and I doubt that anything I say will sound believable to my staff or vendors. I’m trying to just ignore the obvious, but I think the writing is on the wall. I can hardly believe the audacity of management in their internal glad-handing of this new outsourcing deal while denying that they have made us obsolete and likely to be pink-slipped.

Our Power of Self-Assessment

Self-assessment is never easy and is usually less than perfect but it is possible, and it can be both encouraged and improved with time and effort. It is one of our powers as a human being, a defining attribute. So ask yourself: when presented in life with something—large or small— you don’t like but can’t control, do you tend to flare with anger and look for someone or something to blame, or do you focus on the fact that no matter how much you curse, stomp, and push, a wall is a wall, and your time and energies are best spent elsewhere?

The kinds of people quick to redirect their attention to things they can actually have an effect on tend to carry around less free-floating resentment, and in general these types are slower to experience resentment. But when they do experience it, it may be telling them something. It may be alerting them to the fact that a boundary has been breached. In a workplace context, it can mean, for this person, enough is enough. A line has been crossed. During a time of organizational change, it’s important to be open and flexible, but remind yourself that setting professional boundaries is important, too. Know your limits—and yourself. Whole books have been written on what is called “emotional literacy,” that ever-valuable ability to read emotions— both those of others and your own, in all their shadings and complexity. People differ in their “reading ability,” but with awareness and attention, we can all get better.

Managing Anger

Anger can be the biggest issue we face in Stage 2. Managing it (whether passive or aggressive) is a key challenge in this stage. With a workplace or organizational change can come a reduction in our sense of control, a sense that we’re not valued, a sense that we’re being victimized, plus embarrassment, frustration, despair. The list goes on. Most of us run through certain patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors when we experience anger. Some of this is basic wiring. But these patterns also have hardened over the years as we have tried to tally what seemed to work and what didn’t in situations that triggered anger. As you might imagine, this kind of tallying often falls short of award-winning mathematical precision.

Properly managed, anger can be a catalyst. It’s not anger we need to avoid (which is often asking the impossible anyway); it’s what we choose to do with it that is important. Where anger causes trouble is when we nurse it internally or go external with it in some out-of-control way. Does a display of anger have the power to change the change? Chances are slim.

Stage 2 is a good time to do some informed stocktaking, a kind of anger inventory. The questions below will help you identify your own anger-patterns, with an eye to upping your power of self-assessment (and hence ability to adapt) when it comes to this potent emotion. Our term “anger strategies” reflects the idea that anger is not purely reactive—an emotion in a vacuum—but rather a situa-tional response developed, for better or worse, over time. Questions to ask:

• Do your anger strategies work for or against you?
• What specifically works? Why do you think this is?
• What doesn’t work? Why do you think this is?
• Does anger make you feel powerful or out of control? Why?
• Do you hold your anger inside, hoping it doesn’t “leak out” inappropriately?
• Does anger motivate you or frighten you into gathering valid information?
• Do you need to upgrade your techniques for managing anger?
• What’s the first thing you should do differently?

We hope you won’t be angry with a bit more on this crucial subject:

See Table

Rather than stomping your feet, or waving your fist, use your strong Stage 2 emotion to power a data search for change-picture facts. That will get you where you want to go.

Case in Point:The Beeline Company

The Beeline Company proposed a beautiful new headquarters on the outskirts of town. A planning team was formed to disseminate all available information with employees. The team created newsletters, model office designs, charts, and posters. Management was excited, anticipating a favorable workforce response. Though initial reactions had seemed positive, management was surprised and confused by a persistent, underlying attitude of employee resistance. Despite the fact that the move was clearly an upgrade in working conditions for everyone, worker skepticism prevailed. In order to clarify the situation, management disseminated further material about the design of the building. They sat in rooms for hours, trying to determine ways to convince the employees what a good idea the move was. Finally, they decided to have meetings during which employees could ask questions, bring their concerns, or simply voice their opinions.

These meetings gave management a new perspective. The employees voiced clear appreciation for the idea of upgrading their physical working conditions. Yet they also expressed basic, profound concerns. The new location would dramatically affect transportation for some, since public transit was unavailable in that part of town. In addition, many parents utilized the day-care center across the street from the current building, and the relocation would effectively rule that out for most people.

After employees voiced their concerns, management created employee and manager taskforces to study alternatives and propose workable solutions. Once these solutions were available, workers were able to complete their picture of the change and things went smoothly.

Stage 2:”Now It’s … Interpersonal”

Stage 1, with the change-news having just hit, tends to be an inward or personal stage, with everyone dealing in their own ways with serious emotion, some of it—or a lot of it—apprehensive. Personality-wise, the “cross-trainer” often struggles least in this opening stage, drawing on innate resources of positivity and adaptability. It’s more “interpersonal” in Stage 2, with people voicing opinions, looking for allies, even getting into conflicts. Here the “flip-flop” and “hiking boot” personalities can be assets, the former easy-going and a peacemaker, the latter a consensus-builder, a dependable colleague. A “wing-tip” person, investigative by nature, needing lots of proof and the full picture (though hesitant to ask for help), will instinctively set about hunting facts—a good thing in Stage 2 (unless it goes on forever).

Things to avoid and welcome reflect the stage’s interpersonal dimension.

Things to Avoid in Stage 2

• Getting defensive when people around you are upset, imprecise, or mistrustful
  With the change picture still unclear, those you work with or manage are not always at their best. There’s a good deal of self-defending going on—you don’t want to add to it. People usually just need more information—no need to take their behavior personally.
• Arguing about what has or has not been communicated
  We vary in what communication formats work best for us. In Stage 2 everyone’s still struggling to process the new reality. What you saw in the handout might not be what your coworker “saw.” Give help, translate, re-communicate. And seek or provide information in multiple formats and styles: written, oral, visual, formal, informal.
• Ignoring conflict
  Unresolved conflict is a breeding ground for inaccurate information and distrust, keeping people stuck in Stage 2. Facts, truth, and transparency resolve conflicts. Also, don’t forget about personality resources—”flip-flops” to the rescue.

Things to Welcome in Stage 2

• Asking for help
  Go to whomever or wherever you need to go to get the facts. If your manager’s door is open, walk through.
• Humor
  Humor helps offset and neutralize Stage 2 anger and vociferousness.
  How many change agents does it take to change a light bulb?
• Dialogue
  In Stage 2, people want to talk about the change. A lot. A workplace where dialogue is encouraged can help limit the soapbox factor, the Babel of a hundred monologues.

Keys to Moving On

• Work through and past your anger.
• Ask, “Do I have all the facts?”
• View your change in the light of reality.

Learning Curves

If you’ve done this work of deepening your self-knowledge when it comes to anger strategies, your habits of speculation, and productive skepticism, you have started moving toward clarity. You don’t want to stop until you have enough information to form an accurate picture of the change. Hopefully this chapter has helped you accept (or reconfirm) that defensive behavior and reliance on “my position” and “my point of view” declarations don’t really move you forward. You might even now have enough data to acknowledge that the change is not all bad and that it could actually do some positive things, even if you do not like it. And you may never like it. The change.

But at least you are seeing it more clearly.

And if you were angry, perhaps you are not as angry now. Maybe only a little less, maybe a lot less. Maybe you are not angry at all. Maybe you were never angry. People are different. But what you have in common with fellow travelers moving out of Stage 2 is that you have a better understanding of the change. This helps your attitude. You may not be cheerleading the change, but you are more accepting of it. At least a little bit. And after the blow of the initial change-news and the emotions of Stages 1 and 2, this can feel like progress.

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Note to Self:

Shift happens.

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