Unfreeze and Super Perform!

Unfreeze and Super Perform!

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PRESENTS

© 2013 The Mudd Partnership | www.themuddpartnership.com | @muddpartnership | www.fb.com/muddpartnership

In a recent Blog on ‘Managing Complexity For Super Performance’, while looking at going with the flow to manage the ‘Tide of Change’ we came across an Iceberg!

More specifically, we touched upon Kurt Lewin and his, ‘Unfreeze, Movement, Refreeze’ model of managing complex change.

In fact, the Un-Freeze/Re-Freeze model is one of the simplest for understanding both Organisation & Social Change, but what was he actually talking about when he first came up with this theory?

Well Kurt Lewin was a physicist turned social scientist and you don’t get many of them to the pound! And because of his professional background, he preferred to use physical science analogies to help make sense of and explain social phenomenon. So, we have an Iceberg, or quite simply a block of ice.

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http://themuddpartnershiponline.com/2013/07/05/managing-complexity-for-super-performance/

Now if you want to change the shape of that block of ice, say perhaps you want to change it from a rectangular block to a circular block, what might you do? You could try squeezing it – You might try hitting it with a hammer – but most likely if you try to use force of any kind it will be resisted because the block of ice is in fact a complex system of inter-related H2O crystals in a configuration that will resist such attempts to change it.

So, take a step-back and ask the simple question, ‘What would make frozen H2O receptive to change?‘ (or put another way, ‘What will it take to make my Team, Organisation or Business receptive to change?’).

In the block of ice’s case its’ simply to melt it so its liquid and in that state amenable to change. An important lesson then before you begin any change process is to ask some quite basic questions. For instance, ‘Why are we undertaking this change?’, ‘What are my Team or my employees going to need to understand about this change?’, ‘What is really going to involve and engage them and help ameliorate any resistance?’, ‘What are the short-term, quick-wins I can put in place to underwrite, provide ballast and also give momentum to drive the process forward?’.

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A forthcoming Blog entitled, ‘Be Transformed & Super Perform’ looks at the six key steps you might want to follow to ensure your Change Process is successful and we will also be looking at the importance of having a, ‘People Plan For Change’ in a subsequent Blog. Another powerful tool to use in support of any Change Process is, of course, Appreciative Inquiry and regular followers of these Blogs will know we have recently looked at this technique in some detail.

The three stages of Unfreezing, Change or Movement, & Re-Freezing can be used to describe any change in an organisation, including social changes, but the problem is in the organisational context, we can sometimes (nay oft-times) forget Step One, or Step Three. We do Step Two, of course – We make the Change, but it is never really successful because not all three stages have been considered and implemented.

Sounds familiar? Let’s then take a closer look at all three stages and what each might entail.Firstly, how do you Unfreeze an Organisation or an Individual so that it/they will accept change? How do you in other words make the person/system receptive to change?

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http://themuddpartnershiponline.com/2013/07/04/appreciative-inquiry-why/

http://themuddpartnershiponline.com/2013/07/04/appreciative-inquiry-why/

One approach might be to follow the Pain & go to where the Hurt is! Perhaps though you should actually be looking to go to where the Pain is going to be felt and ask yourself what can be done to help your employees recognise the need for change where the change needs to happen?

A simple survey could help the Unfreezing process and the feedback would provide data to highlight and demonstrate that there are problems, tensions & emotions running high to be addressed. Using Appreciative Inquiry techniques could also majorly help the Unfreezing process. Interestingly, Unfreezing is often overlooked in management training programmes. You’re simply sent on a course – you don’t have a context, you might not then be particularly receptive to learning or changing your practice. Indeed, if you feel that you’re on the course because you’ve done something wrong in your job and you have to change the way you do things, then quite naturally your guard is going to be up & your resistance high!

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If you want change to happen then you have first to Unfreeze - You then move forward to making the change: Proposing the solution to the problem; clearly communicating all the steps in the Change Journey; creating a common/shared purpose; engaging Key Stakeholders, Local Change Sponsors, Champions & Leaders of the Change on the ground; providing opportunities for feedback, review and the celebration of quick win wins and incremental changes that will create the momentum to deliver the bigger changes.

Then lastly you need to Re-Freeze and it will probably not surprise you to realise that it is often this step that is most neglected. You change the way you work following training, or the Organisation undergoes change and new processes and practices are introduced, but in either case are any steps taken to embed these changes. What you are actually looking for are ways you can weave the change into the fabric of the organisation, making it part of the culture and the organisational narrative. You are looking to make the Change permanent!

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Your Turn!

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Do you use Kurt Lewin's 'Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze' methods? How do you manage change in the workplace? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below and if you enjoyed this post, remember to 'like,' share and subscribe. :-)

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Unfreeze and Super Perform!

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Transcript of Unfreeze and Super Perform!