Surviving Change Overload
Constant linear change creates fatigue for businesses and their people–both physiologically and physically.
The majority of humans are creatures of habit. For a generally relatable example, we feel most comfortable knowing there is hot coffee in the morning, your favorite breakfast on the go in the refrigerator, and what time it takes to commute to the office. Disrupt that every single day for months straight, and fatigue sets in like a bad habit.
Not knowing if your morning routine is on track or completely going to get blown away for two years can make you prone to having anxious thoughts or just flat-out anxiety for your morning ritual. Our bodies respond physically by elevated cortisol levels, increased adrenaline, and neurotransmission imbalances, to name a few. All of these lead to poor performance and fatigue in the workplace, which affects productivity and desire for employee engagement.
Change in transformations or M&A integration is inevitable. It’s a core part of the adoption of two more organizations joining each other or rolling out a new process.
The key to success in limiting the effect of “change overload” (or “change fatigue”) is expediting change and communicating openly, honestly, and as often as possible. I feel it’s art vs. science. I typically advise to plow through change headfirst–but take care of your employees by watching for continuous disruption like the example above.
Parallel, you must sequence and assess the impact on your organization’s business offerings for integration activity. The answer to questions like, “How will production be affected if we must switch the acquired organization’s vendors?”, or “How will forecasting of business and its visibility be affected by unifying our sales operations?” are just a few key considerations of many that need KPIs and defined goals post-assessment.
The variables are endless, and there is no silver bullet. The best success I’ve learned to identify and manage KPIs at this level is the program structure mentioned in the overview of Deal Value Delivery Systems.
Following the Change Curve
The phrase “death by one thousand cuts” applies to M&A integration greatly. While we can marginally assess the impact of a single change through proper analysis of production downtime, cost modeling, or reduction in operational expenses post-launch, it’s changeling and difficult to predict or quantify the exponential effect of layering change upon change.
Both the physiological effects and the material financial effects of change intersect in Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s change curve model. Below, you see that the human response to change is quantified by morale and confidence in the model. Each stage a person typically goes through can be quantified over time.
The Various Stages Summarized
The first two phases Shock and Denial are often merged. They represent refusal of the change and involve belief. Think about the sudden passing of a loved family pet, that’s usually shock and often followed by, “no it can’t be.”
The next stage frustration, is when denial gives in to anger and often vocal resistance blaming others for the disruption to their daily routine. This quickly leads to the depths of despair and even depression in some instances.
It's common that we then attempt to solve our way out of the foreseen adjustments. “There must be an easy way to solve this right?” After a few more cycles of resistance, we are met with decisions that either we make cognitively or over time, it meets us through osmosis living with the change. We learn to work with and in it. This is acceptance willing or not. Post this phase, for systems and processes, this is when we are mentally integrated with the change and we come out of the curve.
Staying Out of the Business of Change
With M&A integration, organizations go through hundreds, if not thousands, of changes. During the stages of change, not everyone may go through every stage, and everyone will have a different time horizon from which they progress through the curve.
From my experience, I’ve found it more fruitful for both business profitability and employee engagement to sit in the depths of change longer, rather than more frequently, if there is repeated change is in the roadmap. This would translate to more change at once versus cycles of change with no rest or sense of normalization for prolonged periods.
This might sound counter-intuitive but, ultimately, getting back to “the business” versus being in the business of change is where profits exist.
Ultimately, each of these reasons is a factor that should be considered in your M&A Integration or Digital Transformation. They are by no means the only considerations but are factors for consideration that have molded my belief on the journey. Which direction you take correlates with what success could look like. This is why it is my firm belief that getting to a stable operating model or BAU with any transformation or integration is of the utmost importance in your program’s approach.
