1. Change is a Many Splintered Thing (Part One) - Discover the first two phases in the Cycle of Resistance to change. Learn the typical “cat reactions” people have when they feel the pain of change and how these reactions impact them personally. (Part 1 of 2)

2. Heal Thy Pain (Part Two) - Discover what happens during the final two phases in the Cycle of Resistance. Learn the keys to healing the pain of resistance and how to make a commitment to new growth. (Part 2 of 2)

3. Turn Whine into the Bottom-Line - Your organization's greatest enemy is NOT in the marketplace. Just because you're not hearing employee whining doesn't mean resistance to change isn't paralyzing your organization.

4. The 3 Costliest Merger Mistakes and 4 Ways to Avoid Them - Discover the three most typical and costly mistakes leaders make in merger situations and what you can do to avoid them.

5. (Let Go) When You’re At the End of Your Rope, Let Go! -  Do you sometimes find you are at the end of your rope when it comes to organizational change? Then, let go! In this article you will learn what to do with all the things you do not have control over in your change situation.)

6. Bye, Bye Boo Bird - Have you ever wanted to change someone's attitude or behavior? Even though we may not be able to change someone else, we can decide on how we choose to influence them. In this article read about the strategies and techniques you can use to influence people.

7. Put on Your Game Face - Do you want to feel good and powerful in change at work? Discover how to put on a game face and avoid becoming an armchair quarterback.

8. (Forgive) An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth, Can Leave You Blind and Toothless - Has the lack of forgiveness for past decisions or perceived wrongs in your organization impeded your ability to move forward in change? Discover why forgiveness has everything to do with you and very little to do with the person who has hurt you.

9. The 5 Most Important (& Most Valuable) Things You Will Miss Out On When You Refuse to Change - People tend to focus on what they have lost because of work change. Discover what valuable and important things you will miss out on when you refuse to change.

10. Whining with Purpose - Not all work changes are good or work as they were conceived. Team members must be honest with the leaders of change if the change is not working properly. Our natural tendency is to “whine” about these changes. Learn how to "whine with purpose” by developing your ability to give constructive feedback to change leaders.

11. Those Who Laugh Last! - To face the frustrations of dealing with constant change and cranky customers, we must develop the light approach to life. Take a Sense of Humor Inventory and find out if your humor needs some work. Discover six strategies to get your laugh mechanism in order.

12. Stressed for Success? - Do you know the secret to making your body 15 to 20 years more youthful? Discover an additional strategy which one researcher found positively affects stress hormones that can lead you to lower your blood pressure and give you a more relaxed heart rate and respiration.

13. You Are What You Eat - Is That Good News for You? - Do you know which food is second only to pure oxygen for dissipating stress? Discover several foods to avoid eating because they will increase your stress levels.

14. All Stressed-Up and No Place to Go - Do you know why you wake up tired some days? Are you making the most of your day by making the most of the first 15 minutes you are awake? Learn several new stress management strategies to help you deal with work change and unruly customers in this issue.

15. Friends DO Make a Difference... - Did you know that not having close friends may be as detrimental to your health as smoking or carrying extra weight? This article explores why friends are critically important to our mental and physical health and how they can help us deal with the stress of life.

16. (Customer Changes) The Customer Doesn’t Always Ring Twice: Making Seamless Changes to Keep Customers Loyal - With change, often comes internal chaos and resistance. As a result, the customer may experience confusion and disruption in service and/or product delivery. Learn specific strategies to keep your customers coming back despite internal organizational changes.

17. Building Business by Building Rapport - Learn how the science of Neuro Linguistics Programming can be your secret of success in building your business.

18. There is Only One Boss: The Customer - In business today, there is only one boss - the customer. S/he can fire everybody from the CEO down simply by spending his/her money elsewhere. One of the best techniques that will help us overcome our tendency to fake attention with customers is a cutting-edge technique that will improve our listening as well as help us gain rapport with our customers.

19. The Cornerstone of Business Success: Building Your Repeat and Referral Business - Customer service research shows time and again that it is far cheaper to keep a current customer than gain a new one. Learn specific strategies to gain repeat and referral business from your current customers.

20. Chit Chat that Makes Business Sense - It’s the season for high school and family reunions, company picnics and association conventions. What better time to talk about how to prepare for those events so that you are more comfortable and will leave the impression you desire.

21. First Impressions Last - Whether you are in customer service, sales, management, a professional position or in a support role, you are making an impression on those around you. Is it the impression you want?

22. Stressed for Success? - Do you know the secret to making your body 15 to 20 years more youthful? Discover an additional strategy which one researcher found positively affects stress hormones that can lead you to lower your blood pressure and give you a more relaxed heart rate and respiration.

23. Those Who Laugh Last! - To face the frustrations of dealing with constant change and cranky customers, we must develop the light approach to life. Take a Sense of Humor Inventory and find out if your humor needs some work. Discover six strategies to get your laugh mechanism in order.

24. You Are What You Eat - Is That Good News for You? - Do you know which food is second only to pure oxygen for dissipating stress? Discover several foods to avoid eating because they will increase your stress levels.

25. All Stressed-Up and No Place to Go - Do you know why you wake up tired some days? Are you making the most of your day by making the most of the first 15 minutes you are awake? Learn several new stress management strategies to help you deal with work change and unruly customers in this issue.

26. Friends DO Make a Difference... - Did you know that not having close friends can be as detrimental to your health as smoking or carrying extra weight? This article explores why friends are critically important to our mental and physical health and how they can help us deal with the stress of life.

27. Customer Complaints: Do You Have the RIGHT Stuff? - Only when we begin viewing complaints as a gift and invitation for improvement from our customer will we be on the road to earning loyalty from our customers.

28. Your Customer is Your Paycheck! - Customer service is about keeping the customer’s money in your bank, not the on-going boom and bust of replacing lost customers with new customers.

29. The Taming of the Critic - When it comes to criticism, most people think it's more blessed to give criticism than to take it. Learn some effective ways you can handle those tough to handle critical situations.

30. The Critic's Corner Shouldn't be Lonely - Many managers do not feel comfortable giving criticism to their people and as a result do so infrequently. Research on motivation concludes that feedback in one of the biggest motivators for change. Learn how to give your employees constructive criticism.

31. Ten Tips for Taking Criticism - Based on Patti’s best-selling book, Feedback Skills for Leaders, learn ten tips for dealing with criticism.

32. Ten Tips to Improve the Effectiveness of Your Meetings - This article offers 3 meeting guidelines and ten tips to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your meetings.

33. Finding Balance in an Unbalanced World - How can we become maintain balance when there is less time to do all the things that are demanded of us? Discover ideas that can help you to balance your work and family responsibilities.

34. Avoiding the Gender Fender Benders - Gain enlightening, career-building knowledge and the skills that will give you the winning edge when dealing with the opposite gender.

35. 10 Tips for Balancing Your Career - Learn some quick strategies for managing your career with your home.

36. Managing Upward: Creating Working Partnerships - Learn to manage yourself in ways to better manage those above you.

37. (Presentation Skills) Win Your Audience Over From the Start - Learn the secret for how to develop a dynamite opening to your next presentation and win your audience over from the start.

38. 18 Tips on How to Utilize Professional Speakers for Better Results - If you hire professional speakers, read this article and learn how you can get more for your money and maximize the use of the speakers you hire.

39. 8 Tips for How to Be Happy On Your Job - Discover 8 tips that you have 100% control over on your job.

40. Holiday Stress Survival Tips - Want less stress during your holidays? Learn some practical things Patti does to lessen her family’s holiday stress.

41. Networking Magic – Making Small Talk Count - Networking is still a great way to meet potential new customers or connect with people personally. First impressions count and you need to prepare for those events so that you are more comfortable and will leave the impression you desire.

42. Excuses Managers Give for Avoiding Criticism - Here are the 3 most common excuses why managers avoid giving criticism to their employees
43. The Power of Expectations - Most employees will rise to your level of expectations for them. Has it ever occurred to you that your least productive employee is that way because you expect no more from them?

44. Silence is Not Golden - No news means you are abandoning your role as a manager and leaving your employee to figure out what your expectations are and whether or not they are fulfilling them.

45. Do They Really Listen and Learn? - Often, we don’t know whether or not our employees are really listening to us. We need to let loose of our control and give our employees the opportunity to gain our trust. It’s only then we can test the greatness of our employees.

46. How Puppy-Training is Much Like Dealing with New Employees - Through a puppy-training experience, you can understand in a new way how powerful it is when managers dictate exactly what a new employee needs to do and how they do it.

47. Show Me the Love, then Show Me the Money - Research proves that caring relationships between managers and employees directly affect a company’s employee retention, productivity, profitability, and customer service metrics.

Meet Your New Boss Lady

Audio Excerpts:
"Mourning the Past" (2.58 minutes)
"Patti's Unique Approach to Change" (7.40 minutes)

Situation: When a new president comes on board, excitement and apprehension go hand in hand. The arrival of the new president to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, was met with great excitement. As the new leader, he appointed all new Vice Presidents to his cabinet.

The Vice President selected for the Business and Fiscal Affairs division quickly implemented some changes in the way her division conducted business. Some of her expectations included: preparing trend analyses rather than just producing numbers on the fiscal reports, and the implementation of business process improvement for the paper flow in the entire division. Her main goal was to have people think for themselves rather than having someone give them step-by-step instructions of what to do as was the norm.

The new VP's style was met with fear (for job security), mistrust of her motives, and frustration at having to change the way staff had done their job (have we done everything wrong all these years?). She tried to keep the communication channels open by writing a monthly division newsletter and hosting division-wide informal chats. These efforts were met with a lukewarm response.

Solution: After discussions with the Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, it was agreed to bring in Patti Hathaway, The CHANGE AGENT, to do some confidential focus groups in order to develop a full-day training program for the management team and a half day training session for the rest of the division's staff (approximately 250 employees). As a result of the success of the programs delivered in the Business and Fiscal Affairs division, Patti Hathaway was asked to conduct a two-day retreat for the President and Deans to assist them in building more effective partnerships. She also worked with several other departments to facilitate team retreats.

"Thanks for an impactful series of programs on change for our entire division. Your programs made a difference from the President, Cabinet, and Deans to the maintenance workers! Because of your unique ability to understand our needs and customize your content to address those needs, we're excited you are doing a series of management and professional development programs for the entire university staff."

Joyce Carter, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources
Wright State University

Recommendations for Similar New Leadership Situations

1. Ease the number of changes being implemented simultaneously.
   
2. Avoid making comparisons to previous organizations you have worked for and previous employees.
   
3. Copy your staff on articles which discuss higher education trends and changes.
   
4. Encourage management and line staff to attend higher education conferences and continue to upgrade their skills.
   
5. Involve staff in providing input for reorganization recommendations.
   

The CHANGE AGENT's Recommendations for Staff:

1. Attend the Vice President's chat sessions and ask questions and provide input.
2. Keep upgrading your technical and non-technical skills. Professionals are committed to continual learning.
3. Look for ways to get rid of reports or work that is no longer valuable to your institution.
4. Volunteer to serve on committees which are dealing directly with the change process.
5. Learn how to analyze problems, be creative, and find solutions. Do not become comfortable with status quo.

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Sleeping with "the Enemy"- Merging Two Practices

Audio Excerpts:
"Are You Sitting Down?" (2.50 minutes)
"Our Natural Reactions to Change" (13.35 minutes)
"Patti's Unique Approach to Change" (7.40 minutes)

Situation: In 1991, Dr. William Martin was doing his annual strategic planning session. He interviewed several insurance executives to try and predict what would happen in the marketplace with managed care. He was convinced that insurers would prefer to deal with as few providers as possible. His medical practice would need to become vertically integrated to be successful. After examining several options, he decided to contact the five-office, eight-doctor Kahn & Diehl Centers for Progressive Eye Care to discuss joining forces. Optometrist and co-owner Paul Kahn would consider it only if the transaction were a merger and they could be equal partners.

After consulting with legal consultants, two professional corporations were developed - one medical and one optometric. Once the merger was consummated, more problems started. Internally, it was a challenge to make diverse backgrounds come together. For instance, the medical side of the business made extensive use of computers and used comprehensive financial controls and management information systems. The optometric practice used 3x5 cards and used a hand-written ledger system. Dr. Martin and Mary Martin, the operations director, pushed the optometric business into modernization and received "tremendous opposition". Some of the employees felt like it was a "hostile takeover" and 30% of the employees left.

There was tremendous financial pressure and the expected surge in capitated med-surgical contracts was slow to come. The practice earned next to nothing the first year of operation. The end result however is producing several key benefits: surgical volume increased and was profitable from the first year of operation. The practice as a whole last year also posted a profit.

Preparedness. When managed care fully arrives in Northwestern Ohio, the practice is well-positioned to bid on contracts. They can offer the whole package or cafeteria style.

Economies of scale. The practice has been able to economize on expensive instruments. They have also been able to hire a full-time advertising executive which would not have been possible with an individual practice.

Patient care. The merger has increased the technical abilities of the entire practice. Dr. Kahn states, "I see patients I wouldn't have seen before and I've learned to use techs, including scribes. I have learned more in the past two years than I did in the previous 23."

"She was not a waste of money' -- that's a high compliment coming from one of our employees following your workshop. The owners second that. Our only regret is that we didn't have you come in sooner after merging our practices."

William Martin, M.D., Managing Partner
The Kahn and Diehl Centers for Progressive Eye Care

Recommendations for Similar Merger Situations

The CHANGE AGENT's Recommendations for Management:

1. Share the fiscal books openly with staff so they can see the logic behind the merger and the need to implement new management systems.
2. Encourage employee input into changes which directly impact them.
3. Keep staff up-to-date with managed care happenings so they can see the "bigger picture".
4. Teach not only technical skills but explain the "why" and benefits behind the need for modernization.
5. Address rumors as they occur.
6. Praise progress in learning and celebrate small successes.
7. Hire replacement employees as much for their positive attitude and ability to deal with change as for their technical abilities and expertise.

The CHANGE AGENT's Recommendations for Staff:

1. Ask questions of the owners and management. Provide on-going input.
2. Embrace technology and more efficient ways of doing business.
3. Always remember the importance of customer service no matter what.
4. Keep in mind the big picture and the vision for where the organization is going. Take pride in being a pioneer in your field.
5. Look for ways to build a team between offices and locations.
6. Take an interest in cross-training so you can be of assistance to others in your office.
7. Keep healthy and raise your resistance to stress.
8. Minimize other personal changes in your life.

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If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It - Dealing with a Reorganization

Audio Excerpts:
"Job Security Fears" (4.30 minutes)
"Patti's Unique Approach to Change" (7.40 minutes)

Situation: As part of the governor's effort to streamline government to better serve the citizens of Ohio, the Department of Commerce's Division of Financial Institutions was created. The division reorganized the Division of Banks, Credit Unions and Savings and Loans/Savings Banks into a single coordinated entity. The consolidation forced the reorganization of the management structure as well as the regions.

The major goal was to reduce the annual expenditure of the three former divisions by a significant amount. This would be accomplished in part by reducing the administrative redundancy that resulted from the operation of three relatively small divisions engaged in very similar work. An additional goal of the reorganization was to cross train examiners to be able to assist other examiners for institutions outside of their areas of specialty.

The division staff's initial response was one of fear for their job security. People were concerned about how the organizational structure was created and how it was to be implemented. The new superintendent asked for input and received none. The staff wanted to provide input but were unsure of who to tell. In general, there was a lack of trust and communication among administration and staff. A major concern was who the field examiners were to go to in the main office with questions.

Solution:As part of the reorganization, all three former divisions met together for their first annual combined conference. Patti Hathaway, The Change Agent, was invited to be speaker for the opening day of the conference.

"Your opening day presentation received "rave" reviews and provided the perfect ice breaker for the conference. The staff was especially impressed with your knowledge and insights of where we are in the change process, and they appreciated your helping us to recognize and deal with our feeling toward the changes that have taken place during the past months. I look forward to working with you again in the future."

Brian K. Morgan, Training Coordinator

Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Financial Institutions

Recommendations for Similar Reorganization Situations

1. Provide avenues for input to the management structure with the caveat that the director will have the final say. Ask for feedback from those employees who will be directly affected.
2. Develop a newsletter to address the concerns as they arise.
3. Consider including a "Rumor of the Month" section and provide facts to refute the rumor(s).
4. Try to minimize extra layers of management with the new structure since the original goal was to save $1 million in expenses. Management is considered by line staff to be an expense.
5. Once the management structure has been defined, allow for focus group feedback on how to implement the new structure.
6. Allow staff to state their concerns and try to address those concerns.
7. Provide a flow chart outlining the new responsibilities in the main office so people know whom to contact.

The CHANGE AGENTs's Recommendations for Staff:

1. Provide constructive feedback on the originally proposed structure.
2. Give feedback to the director when asked. Volunteer to work on a transition team.
3. Concentrate on doing your job to the best of your ability. Don't waste time on rumors.
4. Ask questions.
5. Develop your own career plan to continue your own growth. Look at all new career options in the new structure. Upgrade skills as needed.
6. Volunteer to be cross-trained.

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