Handling People’s Concerns
One of the more useful models for helping plan human change as well as diagnose its current state is a concerns-based approach. Several practitioners and authors have been advocating this view in recent years. It’s practical and manageable if the commitment exists to see it through.
Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM)
The origin for much of today’s thinking on the topic stems from pioneering work conducted at the Center for Research and Development in Teaching at the University of Texas at Austin. The foundation for this approach to managing the acceptance and adoption of change lays in the massive programs of educational renewal led by the U.S. federal government and other agencies in the 1960s. These new programs apparently failed because of the lack of attention paid to individual change. Building better curricula, researchers discovered, didn’t translate to improved educational performance because the concerns and beliefs of those required to deliver the programs were neither considered nor managed. Although there has been great interest in and acceptance of the concerns-based approach within the realm of education for some time, it is just recently that many human change practitioners have come to realize that the impact of change is the same for any professionals or workers. The principles discovered in the educational world are universally relevant[1]:
[1] “Taking Charge of Change,” Shirley M. Hord, William L. Rutherford, Leslie Huling-Austin, and Gene E. Hall, Southwest Education Development Laboratory, 1987
Change is a process, not an event, and it takes time to institute change.
Individuals must be the focus if change is to be facilitated. Institutions won’t change until their members change.
The change process is an extremely personal experience. How the individual perceives it will strongly influence the outcome.
Individuals progress through various stages regarding their emotions and capabilities relating to the innovation.
The availability of a client-centered diagnostic/prescriptive model can enhance the individual’s facilitation through staff development.
People responsible for the change process must work in an adaptive and systematic way where progress needs to be monitored constantly.
CBAM Stages of Concern
The Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) has several components. The one with the greatest relevance for planning the transition during a major initiative is usually referred to as the Stages of Concern (see Figure 8.4). People will navigate these transition levels as they move toward full adoption of the change. This concept is remarkably similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need[2] shown in Figure 8.5. Maslow’s work showed that each level of personal need can be addressed only after the prior ones are satisfied. Each level has its own peculiarities and types of concerns. The Concerns Based Adoption Model works in the same way. Higher stages of concerns aren’t apparent until the lower stages are dealt with.
[2] Motivation and Personality, 2nd Edition., Abraham Maslow, Harper & Row, 1970
Figure 8.5. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need.
The Stages of Concern can form the basis for the initial and ongoing change management and communications program. Communications and change tactics will vary depending on the stage in which each individual finds himself. One could easily argue that there’s no point communicating to staff the benefits that will accrue to customers if the incumbent workers still don’t know if they will be employed at the end of the business transformation. Their concerns are different, and they will change as the effort progresses as long as the business is diligent about moving staff members up the levels one by one. As with Maslow’s hierarchy, skipping levels won’t work.
Specific questionnaires can be developed to identify the stage at which an individual currently sits. If graphically represented, the concerns at the beginning of a business transformation will be skewed around the initial personal stages. During the course of the initiative, the peak set of concerns will move along to the other stages in a fashion not unlike a snake devouring its prey. The role of the change agent is to keep the meal moving by addressing the day’s relevant issues.
In any event, it’s appropriate to listen carefully to the things that people are saying, or to ask about and then figure out the stage at which they might be stuck. At that point, determine the needs of the individuals and answer the questions or address the concerns they might have. Actively try to get them to move to the next level. If it’s premature, you will soon find out. You will have to work to get people to move from very self-oriented perspectives (What’s in it for me?), through activity-oriented thinking (How will I do this work?), to result-oriented mindsets (How can I help improve on the outcomes?). Addressing these issues in the wrong order just leads to frustration, loss of credibility, and submerging of true concerns, which will only arise again when it’s too late to prevent symptoms.
The position of the individuals affected by the change, as measured on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need, will also drive the nature and type of concerns that people will have. For those who are at the base level of physiological needs, concerns might center on their ability to feed, house, and clothe their families. For those at the safety need level, a focus on self-preservation issues—such as job security or being able to continue to meet physiological needs—will likely predominate. For those at the love and belonging social level, the need for meaningful relationships can be reflected in belonging to organizations, and being considered part of a group. More mature self-esteem needs show up as threats to confidence in maintaining or regaining mastery of a skill and recognition from others. At the highest level of self-actualization, the issues in focus become the challenges to being all the person can be and contributing to altruistic causes for personal satisfaction and the greater good.
It’s impossible to predetermine the exact concerns that everyone might have. In addition to those common ones regarding lower level issues, which predominate early in the transition period, some other typical personal concerns are as follows:
| Basic Concerns |
| Will I have the same job? |
| Will I have any job? |
| Will I have a future? |
| Will I like my new job? |
| Will I be able to do the new job? |
| How will my compensation be affected? |
| Will I have to move? |
| Task-Related |
| Will I have sufficient resources to do the new job? |
| Will the new work allow me to learn and increase my skills and abilities? |
| Will I get help with existing projects or unwanted workload during the changeover? |
| Will I have access to the required human and documented knowledge to do the job? |
| Position-Related |
| Will I be recognized and acknowledged for my effort, accomplishments, commitment, and capabilities? |
| Will I be rewarded? |
| Will this give me the opportunity to be seen by key influencers in the organization? |
| Relationship-Related |
| Will I be able to collaborate with others? |
| Will I have my concerns listened to and understood? |
| Will I have friends and close associates? |
| Will I have the support and backing of others around me? |
| Personal-Related |
| Will I have sufficient control and influence over my work? |
| Will this be consistent with my personal values and principles? |
| Will I have a sense of contribution? |
| Will I be able to do what I have to do without receiving too much control or aggravation? |
| Inspiration-Related |
| Will I be involved in work that will be significant for our stakeholders? |
| Will I be able to do these things really well? |
| Will I be able to do what’s morally and ethically correct? |