Change Management Fundamentals “Gangnam Ivan Style” – Part XXXXXIII:

In my opinion, organizations need to embrace the notion that during periods of change it is critical to ensure that policies and procedures are in place to adopt a “Rise above Hate Attitude” to change management. It is important for organizations to acknowledge that during periods of change, the best “Change Management Approach” is one whereby organizations are able to “Rise above Hate”. That is, if an organization desires the best ideas to surface on the table during periods of change, then an organization needs to identify the “Change Haters” early on during the change management process in order to rehabilitate any major negative energy created by these counterproductive change forces. It is important to note that “Change Haters” tend to manifest themselves in one of two generic forms consisting of either “Internal Change Haters” or “External Change Haters” or a combination of both which is the most volatile mix. First, an “Internal Change Hater” is an individual who tends to be introvert by nature such that they have difficulties speaking their minds and so their negative feelings toward change tend to manifest themselves internally or in covert indirect manners. In terms of internal manifestations, such “Internal Change Haters” may turn to alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism which Human Resources should be able to identify easily by unusual, abnormal or erratic behaviours such that this problem should be the easiest to isolate and rehabilitate. In terms of covert indirect manners, “Internal Change Haters” tend to be introvert and indirect by nature such that they do not tend to speak their mind but rather will tend to resort to mechanisms such as resistance or sabotage to get their perspective across. Human Resources should also be able to identify easily this type of problem because resistance and sabotage generally tends to result is some sort of negative external action which only starts to occur after the initiation of the proposed change process. Second type of hater, an “External Change Hater” is an individual who tends to be extrovert by nature such they do not have any problems speaking their minds such that their negative feelings toward change tend to manifest themselves externally or in overt direct manners. In terms of external manifestations, such “External Change Haters” will tend to identify a target such as the “Change Management Leader” and initiate direct attacks on the “Change Management Leader’s” reputation in order to discredit the “Change Management Leader” and the underlying change management process. The “External Change Haters” tend to be the slyest who know how to play psychological warfare games in order to organize a direct attack without the “Change Management Leader” being able to fight back. The “External Change Hater” tends to be able to operate around the Human Resources Department with smokes and mirrors to the point that the one committing the change management crimes is supported by Human Resources most of the time. The key point to note is that during periods of change, it is critical to identify and rehabilitate “Change Haters” from the outset before they engage in destructive behaviours to either themselves, to others or both because like cancer, the change haters situation can easily be cured when identified early on as opposed to when the cancer has spread throughout an entire organization at which point the cancer can no longer be removed but rather the entire organization must move.

In summary, I refer to “Change Management Gangnam Ivan Style” as the belief that a “Rise above Hate Attitude” to change is predicated on identifying cancer early on before it spreads and an entire organization becomes brain dead.

PSY - Gangnam Style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyT_KyAqDEc