Two Perspectives.

Boost change success with these shifts.

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How often has this happened to you? You’re explaining something to another person and you feel you’re being crystal clear. However, the person you’re communicating with isn’t seeing it the way you are.

Two views of the same thing, yet different.

In this scenario, there are two roles: the communicator and the receiver. Both share equal responsibility in creating clarity and understanding. And yet the noise of their vastly different life experiences gets in the way.

Now, bear with me while I coin two phrases: the changor and the changee.

The changor is the one introducing a change.
And the changee is involved in making the change happen.

Just like the communicator and the receiver, they each have specific roles –– and there is a lot that can create confusion between them. Effective, lasting change requires something from both parties.

Here are a couple of role-specific suggestions to make your change successful:

For the changor:

  1. Create time for deep understanding of the reasons surrounding the change. Just like the receiver in a conversation who has the responsibility to ask questions of clarification, your changee needs time to digest the change and, as part of that process, ask questions.
     

  2. Ask your changee for their perspective on the change. This simple step can build a sense of teamwork, trust and further enhanced clarity between you and the changee.

For the changee:

  1. It can help to understand that not everything that happens to us as individuals is about us. Social scientists a call this the egocentric bias. This deeply ingrained mechanism in each of us helps us rationalize the timeline of events in our lives. So reframe, and try to look at the change from a position outside of yourself.
     

  2. New information that conflicts with our existing frames of reference is hard to digest. However, facing a new problem like a novice, can shake us out of the seemingly efficient ruts we create. Try a change of environment and seek the help of someone who is not impacted by the change to enable you look at the change with fresh eyes.
     

Thanks for being involved today,

Tim McCleary
Managing Director
The Involvement Practice

Tim McCleary