One of the biggest surprises people have, when first implementing change, is that people don't share their enthusiasm for the change. Things they see as rational and obvious are met with blank stares, or open resistance and ridicule. And what's your immediate reaction? That's right, anger, hostility, the urge to cower in the corner, or repeat the argument, only using a louder voice. Surely they didn't hear you the first time, or they just don't understand what you are trying to say. How can one possibly anticipate how people react to the changes you propose? Hi, I'm Ken Bettenhausen, and this lesson elaborates on something I mentioned in passing during the previous video, roles and role expectations. As they can be valuable tools that change agents can use, to anticipate how people react, and to frame arguments in ways that they will be receptive to. Roles are the things that people expect you to do, think, and believe based on the position you hold. People hold many roles simultaneously, both at work and outside the workplace. You can think of them as, and sometimes people refer to them, as wearing different hats. Among the hats I wear at work are a professor, colleague, co-author, management faculty department chair, co-director of the Managing for Sustainability program. Outside of work, I"m a father, husband, brother, son, golfing partner, homeless shelter meal preparer, I'm on the First Friday crew. At the church I attend, I'm an usher, a member of the green team and the lawn crew. They're the people that mow the grass, trim the bushes, edge the sidewalks. And I've chaired the church council, the staff/parish relations community, what we call the radical hospitality team. For each role, people have different expectations, different expectations of behaviors, attitudes and orientations. I'm not talking about the task itself, I'm talking about the way you perform the task, the social aspects of the task. Each position has a unique set of role expectations. Some role expectations are strong and clearly defined, with the most central expectations being put formally in writing, and communicated when you assume the job. The business goal has a detailed description of what l am expected to do as a management program director, and a shorter list of expectations for faculty. But most roles aren't clearly defined, and many role expectations exist beyond those that are formally recorded. Strictly speaking, role expectations are the restraints that others impose on you, and so you would expect them to be the same, no matter who holds the position. But role expectations also evolve over time based on how the person who holds the role reacts to those pressures. You may have expected me to wear a suit and tie based on your experience with other professors you've had. But that wasn't a strong expectation, I'm sure now it's evolved, and you're not surprised that John and I wear collar shirts with open collars. Still, we don't wear t-shirts, and we do cover our tattoos. Anyway, can you think of two people who hold the same role, but approach it in different ways? They both fulfill the core role expectations, and the core role requirements. Bank tellers don't wear t-shirts, loan officers wear suits. But they tailor the job to suit their strengths, their personal values, and what they perceive to be important. Some expectations among different roles are compatible, and others conflict. I act differently when collaborating with a colleague on a research project, than I do when mentoring them as the department chair. But I like to think my core personal values, integrity, fairness, individual responsibility, and personal initiative, are manifest in both roles. I'm spending a lot of time on this concept, because it's important. When you think about change and introducing change, you need to think about the roles people hold at work, and also the roles they hold outside of work. The roles they hold at work have certain demands, that may be different than the roles you hold. Your boss has to report to, and implement directives from people above him or her in the organizational hierarchy. Each company has written rules and/or informal norms that prescribe the amount of discretion individual managers have, how resources are allocated, and how changes get made. Knowing these roles and how they differ gives you insight into how people in those positions, and positions in other departments around the company, are likely to react to the changes you propose. You might recall how Brenda told us about the change she implemented, in the way laundry was washed at a hotel she worked at. She knew she would face resistance from the engineering department to the changes she wanted to make. Because they were responsible for keeping the hotel infrastructure running smoothly and efficiently. Efficiently is the key word here, she was going to give them extra work. She had a new process, new processes have to get used to, you have to work them through. But because she knew that they were responsible for doing, she could anticipate her concerns. She knew they were the ones who would have to install the new laundry equipment, and the water meter she needed to track savings. She brought them into the decision process early, asked for their input and technical advice. Engineers are proud of their expertise, and everybody likes being asked for their opinions, and genuinely listened to. Then she addressed the concerns, as she developed and implemented the change. But outside of those roles people hold at work, it's often the roles they hold outside of work. That will help you understand their reactions to the changes you propose to make in your company, or community, to make them more sustainable. Knowing that I volunteer at the homeless shelter, and I'm on the green team at my church, gives you clues about how to approach me, when you're selling your idea to me. You could fairly safely assume I would respond to an argument framed around social justice. Knowing that I'm an usher, and on the lawn-mowing crew, means I'm not above actually doing the work to get things done. Knowing I hold administrative roles at work and church would lead you to believe I would prefer carefully considered proposals, over grand ideas that might be half-baked. Brenda provided another great example of this, when describing the change she implemented in her first job out of college. Do you recall how she got the housekeeping staff in Hawaii to separate recyclables from the trash? That's right, she leveraged the fact that Hawaii has very limited space for landfills. And appealed to her employees' desire to preserve Hawaii's natural beauty and resources for their children, and their children's children. She leveraged what she knew about the roles they held outside of work in order to gain their acceptance of the change, and the extra work that change involved. As you plan change, it is important, dare I say critical, for you to think about the formal roles people hold and what they're expected to do at the company. And, when working on a one-to-one basis, it's equally important to think about the roles they hold outside of work. Organizational roles impose constraints that are fairly predictable, across all people who occupy that role. You definitely need to consider those organizationally-imposed constraints, as you generate rationales in support of the change you want to make. And the roles people hold outside of work can provide the insight into less-obvious, but equally appealing, justifications for your change.
