Learning to do something new usually involves a temporary dip in performance.
When learning something new, we focus on it and become very conscious of our performance. Once we have learnt something we become far less conscious of our performance. We are then unconsciously competent. This continues until something goes wrong, or there is a new challenge.
There are four key schools of thought when considering individual change:
The behaviourist approach is about changing the behaviours of others through reward and punishment. This leads to behavioural analysis and use of reward strategies.
The cognitive approach is about achieving results through positive reframing. Associated techniques are goal setting and coaching to achieve results.
The psychodynamic approach is about understanding and relating to the inner world of change. This is especially significant when people are going through highly affecting change.
The humanistic psychology approach is about believing in development and growth, and maximizing potential. The emphasis is on healthy development, healthy authentic relationships and healthy organizations.
Personality type has a significant effect on an individual’s ability to initiate or adapt to change.
The individual’s history, the organization’s history, the type of change and the consequence of the change are also key factors in an individual’s response to change.
Schein identified two competing anxieties in individual change: survival anxiety versus learning anxiety. Survival anxiety has to be greater than learning anxiety if a change is to happen. He advocated the need for managers to reduce people’s learning anxiety rather than increase their survival anxiety.
Each of the four approaches above leads to a set of guidelines for managers:
Behavioural: get your reward strategies right.
Cognitive: link goals to motivation.
Psychodynamic: treat people as individuals and understand their emotional states as well as your own!
Humanistic: be authentic and believe that people want to grow and develop.