We're now going to look at how we prepare the individual to successfully arrive in the cloud. Topics that we're going to discuss are the importance of individuals in the change. And we're going to look at it from an emotional point of view in terms of the individual's response to that change, and what phases of transition most people go through when they respond to change. Let's just remind ourselves that work is performed by people. It is people who make decisions and perform the tasks regardless of how much technology support that we've got and automation that we have in our organizations. And change impacts on individuals in different ways and they respond in different ways. The four 4C's of change and the 4 staged response to change are things that we're going to explore today. And they help us assess the best approach for mentoring individuals as they make that journey through the change. People are recruited into roles. And we know from research that people are most productive when they're content in those roles. At the fundamental level this requires a clear definition of the job they're expected to do. And they will start to perform the work in an appropriate way if they're happy and confident that they're doing that work. Individuals respond to change in different ways. A useful model of assessing where people are in that response to change is the 4C's model. It recognizes that people respond to changes that impacts on their comfort. Human beings are creatures of habit, they get used to working in particular ways and any disturbance can be discomforting. There is their competence. Their ability to perform the work. Do I have the right skills to do this work? And then their is confidence. Will I be able to do this? Particularly for people who are being retrained, they're taking on new skills and their confidence levels might be affected negatively. They may not have the confidence that they will be able to learn those skills and to be able to work effectively. And most importantly people like to be in control of their destinies to a large extent and they need to be at ease with the situation in which they're working. So they feel some measure of control over it. When change comes along and we move to the cloud, they may lose that sense of control. So we need to understand how each individual is actually impacted by that. And now let's look at the individual and change and the phases that an individual might go through when confronted with change. There are four phases which are readily identified with people facing drastic change. Firstly, there's denial, then there's resistance. Some people will start to explore the new opportunities that avail themselves, and get involved with it. Let's just walk through these phases individually. Firstly, let's look at denial. This is the refusal by an individual to acknowledge the reality of the situation. And you will hear people say things like, nothing major's happening. They try to blank it out of their mind and carry on regardless, hoping that the problem will go away, which of course it won't. So to help these people come out of the denial stage, we need to develop an awareness of the change with them and work with them. And this takes time and patience quite often. Different people will understand the situation at different rates, and this may lead to confusion because not everybody will be at the same place. Importantly, denial is not the same as resistance. Resistance involves a negative judgment, and issues with resistance may include a feeling of helplessness, a lack of control or power over the situation, as we talked about in our 4 C's model. And the fact that they may have no choice in the move that's being made. Resistance can also bring about a sense of loss or grief that something is being lost. That is, the way that they've worked and been comfortable working with for quite a period of time is being taken away. And that's quite negative emotionally for some people. And then there is the feeling of risk. Human beings do not like to encounter risk. And some people may feel that change brings danger. Which may result in a conflict or an anger in the individual, withdrawal from the process. Fear of the unknown is driving this. We need to manage this. Also many organizations provide a negative historical change experience where previous projects have not worked to the right level of expectation. And it's also brought about by the the fact that sometimes some people have a limited understanding of why that change is actually needed. They'd either not understood or have refused to buy into what the compelling reason is for making that change, and in this case moving to the cloud with all the opportunities and benefits and propositions that that actually bring. The change manager needs to deal with this resistance. And the first step in dealing with this resistance is to surface it, to make sure you identify what that resistance is and the form that it takes. A very hard symptom of resistance in organization to deal with is when people will not actually talk about it. They find themselves too busy to come and make appointments with you, or to talk or to discuss the issues. They can't come to meetings regardless of when's it scheduled. It's also important to honor that resistance. It's an emotional response and people are not doing it necessarily with sinister intent. It's a fear factor, or a way of actually making sure that the person is individually protected. Once that resistance is honored and recognized, it's important to explore that resistance, because there may well be some really good reasons that you should know about for that resistance. It's also important to reduce needless resistance so that change can actually proceed. All of those things that arise through gossip and innuendo and creation of false realities. And remember the third, the third, the third rule, which is a rule of thumb which says, in any sample population, a third of the people at the top will be excited about the change. In the middle third, there will be people who are indifferent to the change, but they will go along. And potentially at the bottom, there is a third of people who will resist that change and they are the ones that we need to work with. Once we've surfaced the resistance and we've opened up the avenues of communication, we need to actually explore what the new change is going to bring. An individual's need to start to adapt to the new order. Techniques we can use here are training and mentoring and coaching and helping that individual take part in that change. Investigate the change on that individual's situation. If it's job redesign, what does that mean? What are the outcomes for the individual? And what are the risks? And what is the organization doing to help mitigate those risks and make it better and more appealing for that individual? It's also important everybody understands what the change brings, answers that question in terms of what's in it for me, and starts to show a positive perception of this. So that they might regain a sense of control over their futures and their position in that new world. And implementation of change can then begin, and set goals and solve problems along the way. Where we really want people to be at the end of the process is having that level of commitment. They will participate in making the change happen. Carter talked about empowering others and it's the ability of people to adopt new work practices, to model their behaviors of the expectations that will actually allow them to operate in the cloud environment. And be enthusiastic about it. To be able to participate willingly and with enthusiasm. And resume the stability that we talked about in terms of the 4 C's; they're comfortable, they're trained, so they're competent, they have their confidence levels up and they feel in control. And critically it's important for those people who are making the change, particularly those third who are excited and really brought into the process, to mentor others who are perhaps not so quick in the uptake in terms of making that change. It's important in the change journey to recognize that compliance is not commitment. And there is a difference. Compliance is when people are doing the work that they've been set, they're doing it as an obligation so that they get paid. But they're not necessarily committed or fully bought in. However, you will be productive in that environment, and it will suffice. We must recognize that individuals are in transition through this change and that different individuals will transition at different rates. The change manager must manage these individuals as they make this transition. And to do that effectively, the change manager must recognize their emotional response state. Where are they? And to be able to mentor these individuals as that transition takes place. So to wrap up, arriving in the cloud that means operations will commence and we've reestablished a new business as usual model. And it's important that individuals who will perform the activity are prepared. Now we've looked at the various emotional responses to the change, and the transitional stages that each individual will pass through. It's important for us to recognize that everyone who arrives in the cloud must be ready to start.
