NASHVILLE, Tenn.–Given all the discussion at a conference here around artificial intelligence, and the fear many have of losing their jobs to AI, Heather McKissick said the event was an ideal time and place to make clear just how important it is to understand what really works in getting workers to understand and implement change.
To do that, she said, it’s important to embrace the “first rule of leading change”: Understand Human Behavior.
McKissick, the president and CEO of CUES, shared with the Edge Conference here sponsored by Trellance and Filene, that understanding behavioral science will be fundamental to not just helping credit union staff and even members better accept all the change on the horizon related to AI, but all change in general.
“At CUES, we're here to help transform lives, and we do that through the leadership within credit unions,” McKissick said. “The number-one topic we have requests for on a regular basis is communications and change management. How do we as leaders not just understand the issues, but how do we embrace them and help our organizations move forward how do we put wheels on it? Credit unions are not famous for fast adoption, but we also all know that you need to embrace technology and ensure it is implemented appropriately so we can transform lives.”
All About the ‘How’
Noting the total credit union investment in technology is less than that of each of the biggest banks, McKissick added, “We can’t outspend the competition we have to find a different way of affecting change. We need the courage to change how we do business.”
McKissick urged CU leaders to start thinking about how to influence change in faster, better and stronger ways, and in a way that brings employees along.
“We need the courage to change, but we also need the courage to stay the same,” she said. “We cannot forget now, more than ever, as we are facing this amazing tsunami of opportunity, (we can’t lose our focus on why we're really here…We have to have the courage to stay true to our roots as credit unions.”
The Organizational Change Curve
The organizational change curve, noted McKissick, begins with strategy, followed by process and structure, the two latter points involving getting the right people in the right places.
The hardest part of that curve, McKissick noted, has to do with measurement.
“I'll tell you right now organizational results are far more easily measured than individual change results,” McKissick said. “But what we are finding is that even organizational scorecards that are measuring those important business metrics… (require)…a measurement strategy that is nimble and equally as agile as all the other opportunities for change…Don’t forget about how you are measuring success, because the great likelihood is that the way that you are measuring your success does not accommodate for failures. Failures must be measured as part of your success.”
Not the Crux
McKissick said organizational change is not the crux of implementing change.
“When you go to manage change, you have to recognize first and foremost organizations don’t change. From a behavioral science point of view there is no such thing as organizational behavior. Organizations don’t behave. It’s individuals that can change. Organizational behavior shifts when individual behavior shifts. And that can be a daunting shift.”
The Individual Change Curve
McKissick said individual change is more important than the organizational change, because individual change drives organizational change.
The first question any individual asks when confronted by change is “How does this affect me?” Often, embedded in that response is fear, McKissick acknowledged.
“It’s OK that these people are thinking about this at that personalized, individual level. I guarantee you one thing: until you give them the opportunity to process this change personally.”
The Phases
According to McKissick, the phases of the individual change curve include:
- Awareness
- Knowledge. “Awareness is different than knowledge. Awareness is knowing it’s coming. Knowledge is ‘Here is all the information.’ The truth is human ability to handle change requires time to absorb change. The better strategy is to start with awareness, then knowledge.”
- Trial Run. “After that, most people want the opportunity to put their hands on it. Why wasn’t I given the opportunity to weigh in?”
- Evaluation. “They want to test it.”
- Acceptance
By providing for trial runs and evaluation, McKissick said employees will get to acceptance faster, even if they don’t like the decision.
“If it’s a fair and transparent process, most people will still accept and act according to the decision. because they had the opportunity to weigh in,” she said. “We have to have the patience and also the heart for giving people the opportunity to weigh in on the change. This is why I say you can be the subject matter expert to end all subject matter experts, but if you do it and run they won’t absorb, won’t adopt, and won’t come along.”
Acknowledging the Resistance to Change
McKissick said the following should be kept in mind by leaders and organizations that “want to put wheels on all this.”
- People don’t embrace change. “So, we have to tell them to expect it. Tell them, ‘I know this is a lot of change. I know we’re asking you to absorb a lot at once. The way you are feeling is normal.’ Expect the awkwardness.”
- Most people equate change with loss, even if we frame it as normally as we can. “Change means loss for a lot of people and if they have feelings of grief, support them.”
- Change tolerance varies. “You have to pace the disruption. This is also normal. Some of us embrace change faster than others.”
- There are degrees of daring. “Allow for diversity.”
- Constraint creates innovation. “Encourage creativity. A lot of times this comes up, especially when you are midway through an initiative. People feel constrained. One of my pet peeves is when people limit their thinking based on the current circumstances. We are never going to outspend the banks. We have to allow our restraints to create innovation.”