Personal Transition through Change

Organisations don't just change because of new systems, processes or structures. They change because the people within the organisation adapt and change too. Only when the people within it have made their own personal transitions can an organisation truly reap the benefits of change.

The Personal Transition through Change curve is widely used in business and change management. This tool is extensively used in all sizes of organisations across the world to understand the emotional pathway that people go through when they experience any change.

John M. Fisher is the Chartered Psychologist who researched and developed the Personal Transition through Change curve. He presented at the Tenth International Personal Construct Congress, Berlin, 1999, and subsequently developed in his work on constructivist theory in relation to service provision organisations at Leicester University, England.

See if you can relate to these steps:

Anxiety – You don’t really know what’s going to hap­pen next, and you aren’t sure what any change will really look like at this point.

Happiness – You’ve committed to the change, and you are feeling really good about it.

Anger – Some anger and frustration is directed at others, especially those who you believe are responsible for forcing the change.  At a later stage, this is directed at yourself with feelings of guilt for not having coped as well as you believe you could have.

Despair – You may feel confused and apathetic and really start to wonder who you are.

Other pathways on the curve are:

Denial - where you deny that any change is occurring at all

Disillusionment  - where you decide that the change does not fit with your value system and you decide to have nothing more to do with it.

Hostility - where you show aggression towards yourself and others and the change, in general.

John explains how he came to develop the change curve and how he uses it in his work in an exclusive Ei4Change podcast.

You can listen to the full podcast through iTunes or on the Ei4Change website.

Copies of the Personal Transition through Change curve can be downloaded free of charge, along with other free resources on the Ei4Change Resources page.

The Authority Series

‘The Authority Guides’ is a new series of pocket-sized books offering highly practical and accessible guidance on a wide variety of business matters. They are published by independent business publisher SRA Books under the imprint Authority Guides.

The books are aimed at the busy business professional and business owner; they are snappy and practical with absolutely no unnecessary padding and waffle.

Each book in the series has been written by an author who is not only an expert in their field but who is working today at the coalface of their specialism.

The first three books in the series are:

‘The Authority Guide to Emotional Resilience in Business: Strategies to manage stress and weather storms in the workplace’ by Robin Hills

The emotional resilience of those involved in a business will contribute significantly to the organisation’s success. This Authority Guide from leading emotional intelligence expert, Robin Hills, will help you change the way you think about yourself and the way you approach potentially difficult situations. You will be able to develop your own personal resilience and understand how to develop resilience within the hearts and minds of your team and your organisation.

Robin Hills is the director of Ei4Change and is based in Greater Manchester. He has over 30 years’ commercial and leadership experience having worked in a variety of sales and marketing management roles. His special interest lies in emotional intelligence and linking together the outputs from assessments to give real practical relevance to improve effectiveness and productivity.

 

‘The Authority Guide to Marketing Your Business Book: 52 easy-to-follow tips from a book PR expert’ by Chantal Cooke

It’s never too soon to start thinking about how to market and promote your book. In this Authority Guide, leading book PR and marketing expert Chantal Cooke, presents 52 tips that will make your book stand out from the crowd, build your credibility as an author, and ensure you achieve those all-important sales.

 Chantal Cooke is an award winning journalist, broadcaster and author. She has over 25 years’ experience as a columnist, broadcast and print journalist, and radio presenter for the BBC, commercial radio, national newspapers and magazines. Chantal has reported from Bosnia and Northern Ireland, and written travel articles for a variety of publications including the Independent on Sunday.

‘The Authority Guide to Financial Forecasting for SMEs: Pain-free financials for finance and planning’ by Simon Thompson

In this Authority Guide, forecasting guru Simon Thompson shows you how to build financial forecasts quickly, effectively and cheaply through his unique, proven and easy-to-follow 10-step process. By learning how to create effective forecasts you will master the ability to understand the potential financial outcomes for your business and be able to communicate financial information in order to successfully raise investment or loans.

Simon Thompson is a specialist in financial forecasting for small businesses. Established in 2011, his business ‘Edge Forecast’ has refined a unique combination of expertise, support and software, which has helped UK businesses raise millions of pounds of crowd-funded, angel and bank finance.

 

Each Authority Guide is packed full of useful information to help business leaders grow themselves, their teams and their business. 

For more information www.authorityguides.co.uk

Emotional Intelligence Programmes for 2016

Ei4Change – Emotional Intelligence 4 Change - are pleased to announce that we have a number of emotional intelligence training initiatives starting in 2016. 

In April 2016, we are running an Introduction to Emotional Intelligence workshop and leading into our Advanced Emotional Intelligence Programme.  Both are endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management who provide a Certificate on satisfactory completion of the required assessments.

These programmes cover an in depth look at the role and function of emotions and how emotional competencies can be used and applied.  They provide a complete picture of emotional intelligence how these principles enable people and organisations to improve their performance.  The tools and techniques that participants will learn can be applied immediately.

Our programmes commence on April 4th at The Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa.

Ei4Change is also running the Introduction to Emotional Intelligence Programme via webinars over 8 weeks starting on 20th April 2016.  This programme is ideal for you if you live and work outside the UK or if you are unable to commit the time to attend workshops.

Graduates from the Ei4Change Advanced Emotional Intelligence Programme can cement their learning by enrolling on the Master Practitioner in Emotional Intelligence Programme.  Again, this programme is endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management who provide a Certificate on satisfactory completion of the required assessments.

We are running a Master Practitioner in Emotional Intelligence Programme commencing on the 20th June 2016 at The Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa.

There is a 20% Earlybird discount on all courses at Woodland Grange up until 31st January 2016.

For more information on our emotional intelligence training, see our website www.ei4change.com or contact Robin Hills at Ei4Change via email robin@ei4change.org.uk

Introduction to DISC Personality Assessments

Everyone should be treated with care and respect. Whilst people are different, everyone has a value with special strengths and qualities. People very rarely set out to cause upset - they just behave differently. That’s because they are different.

Personality assessments are useful tools that can give some interesting insights into these differences around motivation, management style, communication, relationship building, etc.

The theories that underpin personality assessments are surprisingly easy to understand at a basic level. There are many different personality and motivational models and theories, and each one offers a different perspective.

One of the most widely used, well respected and highly developed models is based on the theories of Dr William Moulton Marston, from his book Emotions of Normal People (1928). His ideas have been developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota into a robust, validated assessment tool known as DISC.

The DISC model presents a series of four main descriptions (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance).

Dominance = Results driven - strategic planning and action towards identified aims - tends to be outspoken.

Influence = Influence, persuasion, affability - communication and people skills - tends to be extraverted.

Steadiness = Steadiness and process - routine, dependability, reliability, credibility, trustworthy - tends to be team-orientated.

Compliance = Compliant with rules, proven principles, detail, accuracy - tends to be introverted.

Most people have a dominant or preferred main type, plus one or two supporting types in different degrees, which are dependent upon the individual and the situation.  The main characteristics of their dominant or preferred type are displayed allowing for recognition of a broad range of generalised behaviours.

DISC testing instruments assess people's strongest or preferred type and their supporting types from the four available.   The results are represented on a series of graphs and personality descriptions based upon the mixture of the types.

Once identified and recognised, each type can be seen to react differently in a given situation, to work with tasks in their own way and to engage with people in different ways.  There is no right or wrong type, the important point is that each type has differing strengths and liabilities.

The research and development over the years means that DISC can give valuable insights into predicting behaviour in the workplace and behaviour under pressure. In recruitment, DISC can provide very valuable compliment to the interview process.

This article can only give a very quick overview of the tool. To find out more you can enrol for free in my class Behavioural Styles and Teamwork on Skillshare using this link - http://skl.sh/1OVbIF2

The best way to get a clear understanding of your own profile is to take the assessment provided by a reputable, respected company. From this you can see what the assessment shows and how it can support you as part of a recruitment process or in your personal and management development. If this is of interest to you, please get in touch at robin@ei4change.org.uk

TetraMap - a simple, yet effective, team building tool.

Within our workshops we help people to become more aware of their behaviours and how these impact upon other people.  We are accredited to use a wide variety of assessments, including Myers Briggs Type Indicator and DISC, but one is very quick to gain the insights in training workshops and is very straightforward to use.  It is called TetraMap; a tool for assessing behaviour that looks how you typically behave at work and how this is perceived by others.

TetraMap uses the metaphor of nature around four basic elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire.  You have these four elements inside you, but one (sometimes two) is your preferred behaviour style.  Behaviour can change; you can adapt.  But do you know how you typically behave?

TetraMap is a very effective training tool.  Each person receives a booklet which contains a self-assessment exercise that helps identify which behaviours used most – and those used least.  Examples of these might be: decisiveness, generating ideas or looking for harmony.  You are asked to rank these in order, from those that represent you the most and those that represent you the least. 

Analysing your answers gives four different numbers or values that indicate your preferred elements.
This process only takes about 5 minutes.  In the workshops, people discover their own profile and those of their colleagues by everyone mapping their profiles onto one chart.  From this, it can be seen that there may be a high tendency in the group towards one element giving an indication of how the group behaves as a whole.  For example, planning and process driven ‘Air’may be high and enthusiastic, creative ‘Fire’ quite low and there may be a few ‘Earth’ dominant individuals who stand out.  The behaviour of the group may be due to do the industry / sector that they work in and the background of the participants.  This can be an eye opener for the group and we can explore the consequences that this can have on the performance of the group and the individuals involved.  Feedback from delegates is that this is really fascinating.

Next, we split the workshop into four groups according to their highest element to explore what the typical behaviours are of this element:

• What are the do’s and don’ts?
• How do you like to be communicated with?
• How do you not want to be approached?
• Which strengths do you bring to the team?
• How do you behave under pressure?

There is always a lot of fun and laughter during this exercise as people gain a better understanding of themselves and each other.

TetraMap is a good way of helping people to open up - especially for participants who may not have been enthusiastic about attending the workshop.  They see that the workshop is about them and their colleagues, and not about the trainer at the front of the room.

The main message is that behaviour is observed and that this behaviour can be changed; it is not about putting people into a box, giving them a label or a series of meaningless letters.  The beauty of TetraMap is that it is not about personality type or traits - it is focused around behaviour.  People grow within their business and in their positions and so their elements can change.

The TetraMap tool can be linked to Myers Briggs Type Indicator, DISC and to other psychometric assessments.  TetraMap is NOT a psychometric; it is a framework for exploring behaviour and communication.  We like it because it so easy use, easy to understand and easy to remember.

TetraMap can also be used on a large scale within a company, so that it becomes a common theme throughout the organisation.  We are involved in projects using TetraMap within the National Health Service involving senior managers, doctors, radiographers, learning and development managers, nursing staff, research workers, etc.  All report major benefits from its use, its application and its understanding within their daily work interactions and, also, outside of work.


Ei4Change are experts in providing TetraMap workshops so that you can easily understand your behaviour and that of your colleagues, which in turn leads to improved performance and better satisfaction.

If you want your teams to experience a really different style of workshop then talk to us.  For a case study from Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust click here

Coaching with “Images of Resilience”

In conjunction with RSVP Design, Ei4Change has produced a toolbox to support training, personal development and coaching around resilience.

Images of Resilience contains multiple copies of 16 carefully designed images drawn in an attractive cartoon style.  The images are metaphors, representing a range of experiences and emotions linked with the theme of RESILIENCE.  They facilitate the exploration of different facets of resilience and its connections with stress, change, challenge and learning.

Images of Resilience is an extremely powerful tool for use in one-to-one coaching.  It can also be used in small group discussions (of up to three people).  

Here is a detailed example of how you can use Images of Resilience in coaching.

1. Explain that the images represent a range of aspects of resilience: some of the skills, behaviours and attitudes that are required to develop the personal resilience and deal with challenges, pressures and stress in both personal and professional environments.

2. Explain that this process is intended to help individuals to think about the responsibilities and pressures that they are currently facing and to consider their own strategies and approaches to managing themselves.

3. Begin by giving an example.  Select the image called ‘Drive and Motivation’– the picture of migrating animals and birds.  Describe how this image represents an internal drive that motivates the animals to undertake long, demanding and potentially dangerous journeys.

Ask the questions:

“What is it that motivates you?

“What is the internal drive that makes you want to commit to something that might be difficult and stressful?”

4. Listen to the answers, then show the card called ‘Risk’ – the person entering the radioactive environment.  Describe how a challenging management role has risks attached – for both the manager and the people being managed.

Ask, “What are those risks and what do you think you can do to prevent or over come them?”

5. When you have worked with these two examples, spread the remaining cards (with supporting notes) randomly on a table and ask the coachee to choose two or three further cards.  Each of these cards should represent an aspect of resilience that the coachee feels is important to demonstrate and strengthen.

(Allow enough time for the coachee to consider the cards and hink about what they might mean – a minimum of 5 minutes of reflection time).

When the cards have been selected, ask the coachee what the cards mean to him / her.

Explore two aspects:

• Why the coachee selected this card and why it is an important skill or quality.
• The extent to which the coachee feels that they have, and can rely upon, this quality.

Can they give examples of how and when they use it?

For example, if the coachee selected the image entitled ‘Bouncing Back’ – the wobbly toys, can he / she describe situations in which he / she has taken knocks or criticism and been able to bounce back in a positive way?

6. Finally, ask the coachee to select two cards (these may include a card or cards that have already been discussed).

• The first card should represent what they feel is their own most valuable ability in relation to resilience (ie, what they think they do best and find most useful).  For example, this might be endurance – a willingness to work with uncertainty and ambiguity or an ability to find creative ways of dealing with barriers to progress.
• The second card should represent what they believe they would find most difficult.  For example, keeping focus when there are many distractions and being flexible about a process when under pressure to deliver results or overcoming their fears.

7. Explore the coachee’s choice of cards and then ask them to summarise their thoughts and discussions through effective questioning.

This process will explore various dimensions of personal resilience within the working environment leading to a depth that may have taken many hours within an ordinary coaching session.

Images of Resilience can be used in education to help students explore specific skills  valued by employers and to manage work as a part of life to find their own personal coping strategies when under pressure.

For more details click here

A video giving more details about resilience and Images of Resilience is available on YouTube.

For more information, and to order Images of Resilience, visit www.rsvpdesign.co.uk