To: My Friends

Issue: Changing Roles Within an Organization

People put you in a box. Their intent is not malicious. It is just that putting you in a box, like stereotyping, is convenient for them. So, when you change roles within an organization you have to extricate yourself from the old boxes in people's minds and create new ones for them.

Amelia began working in the office of her family's business at age 13. After completing her degree in business at college she became the office manager. At 27, she was promoted to VP of administration. To her dismay, in her new role, some people still thought of her as the girl in jeans and thongs that she was as a teenager. Unlike Houdini, she had been unable to escape from the box into which she was cast earlier.

When you change roles within an organization you have to communicate to your constituents, through symbols and actions, that things have changed. A memo and organization chart, while important, is not enough. People need to experience a difference. This is what Amelia did:

1. Changed location: Amelia moved out of the "bull pen" and into her own office. A different space communicates a change physically.
2. Changed appearance: Amelia changed her hairstyle to a more sophisticated look and her wardrobe to be more professional.
3. Introduced successor: She introduced the new office manager to the people with whom she used to work. This helped her not only to step out of her past, it also helped him to establish himself in his new role.
4. Stepped out of old role: When people came to Amelia about matters that she handled as office manager she took them to the new manager. This reinforced the point that she was no longer in that role and strengthened the role of her new office manager.
5. Made new alliances: She met with the people with whom she needed to work in her new role. She noted issues that were causing problems and worked with them to solve the problems.
6. Made changes: Amelia made some visible, easy to implement changes quickly to show that she could listen to concerns and take appropriate action.
7. Created a shared vision: A facilitated one-day off-site meeting of key people resulted in a draft vision for her area. It was subsequently reviewed and refined by her staff and the rest of key management, and shaped how they provided their services.
8. Reported progress: Amelia prepared a progress report that she shared with her constituents at the end of her first 30 and 90 days, and quarterly thereafter. She summarized the challenges she had faced, the actions she took, and upcoming priorities.

Amelia succeeded! Her actions earned her respect and demonstrated to everyone that she was, in fact, in a new role.

Placing people in boxes is normal organizational behavior (legitimized by organization charts). Accept that you will always be placed in some form of box. Make sure that when you change roles that you also take action to create your new box and escape from your old one.

Sincerely,

Ian Jacobsen CMC, FIMC
Coach to Leaders and Teams