Use the “Frustration Technique” to Help Employees Understand Change

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One factor that regularly gets in the way of successful change initiatives is when organizations fail to provide employees with any real reason as to “why” a change is happening in the first place. This is especially prevalent in companies operating from a top-down organizational structure, and it can result in employees that catastrophize the message of change they hear, jumping to conclusions and making irrational interpretations about the impact the change will have on them.

When it comes to communicating the “why” of change, we need to create a deep sense of understanding so everyone involved is clear on: “why the status quo is no longer acceptable and we have no choice but to leave it behind.” This means not only do we need to give our people a legitimate reason why the change is happening, we also need to clearly communicate that we didn’t just come up with this change initiative because we didn’t have anything better to do. And especially if the organization has a history of stalled or abandoned change efforts, we have to let employees know that this time it’s not some “new flavor of the month” syndrome; that there is a good reason for this change and that it absolutely is going to happen.

To further add to the challenge, grasping the “why” is the hardest part of change. The good news is that it’s a message you can get employees to help self-deliver, which is a big plus because people tend to react better to ideas they come up with on their own versus ideas that are forced on them. That’s why we teach the “Frustration Technique” that gets people to set their own platform on fire and create their own sense of why there is no other choice but to make the leap to change.

Here’s how the “Frustration Technique” works

Before you pitch a change, start asking people, “Hey, is there anything frustrating you about where we’re at right now? They might answer, “Well, the process takes too long. It’s sort of irritating. And these things are getting in my way.” And the minute that light bulb comes on, you are in a much better position to turn around and say, “You know what, that’s wonderful insight. Based on that let me throw something out to you. This is a change, a solution to the ideas you just came up with.”

The Frustration Technique works because it highly eliminates the nostalgia that can set in when employees hear the announcement “We’re leaving this safe place you already know, and going someplace new.” Once you’ve pitched where you’re going, and you’ve said, “Folks, here it is. We’re going over here and we’re leaving that. Forget about it. It’s never coming back” people start to eulogize the past. They’ll say, “Do you remember back when? Remember before we had computers how great it used to be? How easy life was? We didn’t have these systems that were always crashing and it wasn’t so complicated?” Even if they didn’t like the paper systems, even if it took too long and was painful and arduous, the minute you insist that folks leave it, they turn back around and eulogize the “good old days” or “the way it used to be.” Once that happens it is very difficult to undo. So, if you can, catch it before it even starts.

Change is always going to be hard, but with techniques like this that invite employees to take an active role in finding their own acceptance and willingness to embrace the change, it gets much easier.

For more tips on managing change, join us for our webinar “Change Management that Lasts“.

An expert in aligning goals and people to create thriving organizations, Mark leads one of the world’s largest studies on leadership and employee engagement.

Mark’s award-winning work has been featured numerous times in publications including The Wall St. Journal, Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg BusinessWeek and the Washington Post. His media appearances include CBS News Sunday Morning, ABC’s 20/20, Fox Business News and NPR. Mark has lectured at Harvard Business School, Yale University, University of Rochester and University of Florida. Mark is the author of five books including the McGraw-Hill international bestsellers, Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your People to Give It Their All and They’ll Give You Even More and Hard Goals. Mark’s most recent book, Hiring for Attitude, reflects the team’s latest research and insight into how hiring decisions can align with engagement goals and culture characteristics.

Leadership IQ’s turnaround, culture change, and performance enhancement through employee engagement work has been recognized in a diverse set of industries including healthcare, financial services, energy, manufacturing, logistics, and hospitality. From his roots as a turnaround specialist, Mark created Leadership IQ to address problems in performance before they hit the bottom line.