cameron and green making-sense-of-change-management

Individual changeAlthough your awareness can only ever be in the present, this awarenesscan include memory of the past, anticipation of the future, inner experienceand awareness of others and the environment.Mobilization of energy occurs as awareness is focused on a specific facet.Imagine you have to give a piece of negative feedback to a colleague. Asyou focus on this challenge by bringing it into the foreground, you mightstart to feel butterflies in your stomach, or sweaty palms. This is like usinga searchlight to illuminate a specific thing and bring it into full awareness.In Nevis’s terminology this brings about an ‘energized concern’.This energy then needs to be released typically by doing something, bytaking action, by making contact in and with the outside world. You givethe feedback.Closure might come when the colleague thanks you for the feedbackand compliments you on the clarity and level of insight. Or perhaps youhave an argument and agree to disagree. You will then experience areduction in your energy, and will complete the cycle by having come toa resolution, with the object of attention fading into the background oncemore. The issue of the colleague’s performance becomes less important.For real change to have occurred (either internally or out in the world)the full Gestalt cycle will need to have been experienced.Nevis shows how the Gestalt cycle maps on to stages in managerialdecision making:AwarenessData generation, Seeking information, Sharing information, Reviewing pastperformance, Environmental scanningEnergy/actionAttempts to mobilize energy and interest in ideas or proposals, Supportingideas presented by others, Identifying and experiencing differences andconflicts of competing interests or views, Supporting own position, Seekingmaximum participationContactJoining in a common objective, Common recognition of problem definition,Indications of understanding, not necessarily agreement, Choosing a courseof possible future actionResolution/closureTesting, checking for common understanding, Reviewing what’s occurred,Acknowledgement of what’s been accomplished and what remains to bedone, Identifying the meaning of the discussion, Generalizing from what’sbeen learned, Beginning to develop implementation and action plans49