5000 Managers Surveyed on Change

June 20 2002 - Contrary to some beliefs, a survey of 5,000 mid-to-upper level managers shows that most are very open to change.

Discovery Learning, a developer of training products also used its Change Styles Survey to identify strategies for successful change management, placing respondents on a continuum between "Conserver" and "Originator," with "Pragmatist" in between. Not surprisingly, most individuals are a blend of Conserver-Pragmatist or Pragmatist-Originator. Of the entire population surveyed between 1996 and 2001, 52% of managers (57% men/43% women) scored in the pragmatist range, 26% in the originator range and 22% in the conserver range.

Survey developer Dr. Chris Musselwhite characterises the types as:

* Originators - people who welcome dramatic change
* Conservers - more comfortable with gradual change
* Pragmatists- most enthusiastic about change that will address current circumstances.

"Americans are attracted to innovation, so we think being an originator is best," says Musselwhite (President and CEO of Discovery Learning). "But it takes all of these personality types to build a successful business."

Taking Enron as an example, he says: "Conservers at Enron tried to warn of problems, but the leadership culture was apparently skewed so much toward originators charged with 'reinventing business' that conservers were viewed as resisters and were either silenced or ignored."

What can we learn from the survey? Firstly, it is clear that a specific change will not meet with universal approval. Managers would benefit from knowing the change styles of staff and colleagues. "You have to be gradual and clear with conservers, who are most concerned with the details of implementing the change," says Musselwhite. "You win the pragmatists over when they can see how the change will positively address current circumstances. And you may have to reel in the originators, who welcome dramatic change and sometimes move too fast for other team members' comfort."

Musselwhite has an interesting perspective on the people who appear to resist change. He says that there are two kinds of resisters in the world. The most devoted staff sometimes voice the biggest objections to change and listening to them gives managers the opportunity to head off unanticipated problems. But some people are "hard core" resisters. "You want to be able to tell the difference," explains Musselwhite. "If someone's simply a conserver who's seeing red flags, you can benefit from their insights. They'll feel heard and will be more ready to move forward. But hard core resisters will fight the change no matter what." Managers need to be careful not to treat every skeptic as a hardcore resister - there is a risk of breeding dangerous alliances between the two groups.

"People may resist change on an emotional level," says Musselwhite. "It might have nothing to do with the change itself, but with territorial issues, problems at home, etc." He also says that originators can cause problems on the other extreme -- wanting to move too fast or in too many directions. In some cases, he argues, there's no way to get these people to work at a pace that's best for the organization, and you have to let them go.

Other findings of the survey include:

* Men (28%) are more likely than women (23%) to be originators, with women (27%) being much more likely to be conservers than men (17%). "This may be due to women being more mindful of the implications of change, rather than being less open to change in general," says Dr. Musselwhite.

* Among industries surveyed, communications had the highest percentage of pragmatists (71%) and the lowest percentage of conservers (11%). Petroleum had the lowest number of originators (4%).

* Among professions, soldiers (46%), school principals (42%) and business consultants (40%) had the highest percentage of originators. The lowest percentage of originators were security/police (3%), support staff (8%) and bankers (12%).

* Among age groups, there are a substantially higher percentage of originators among "Baby Boomers" (born 1946-1965) than among earlier "Post War and Depression" generations (born 1928-1940) or the later "Generation X" (born 1966-1981). Over 33% of Boomers were originators, compared to 26% of Gen X-ers and 26% of Post-War/Depression generations.

"The bottom line: the more aware people are of their co-workers' change styles, the better they work together, which improves business performance," says Musselwhite.

The Discovery Learning website is at http://www.discoverylearning.com.

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