Right-Sizing the Change Conversation: The 100% Question

Is that 100% true?

Each time we navigate change in our work, we are likely to experience three stages of response to that change: emotional, reflection, commitment. Leaders who are helping their teams navigate can keep in mind the following in order to recognize where individuals are:

Emotional Zone: hearing about a new change, we have an emotional reaction to it, no matter what. It might be imperceptible, or it might be loud and clear: What? What’s happening? How is this going to affect me? If it’s not a very big change, then most people move quickly to the next zone. But if it’s a significant change, like a layoff, a restructure, or a new leader, the emotional response can be greater. Savvy leaders can normalize this, demonstrate understanding, and invite the person to move to the next zone.

Reflection Zone: in this zone, we accept that the change is indeed happening, and we begin the messy work of figuring out how we are going to respond, handle it, or adapt. We must have our own introspective conversation, but mostly we are talking and working things out with others. We may ask, “what are our priorities?” or “what’s our roadmap?” and each of these ways of interacting help us get clear about what’s next to adapt to the change. Leaders need to take special care here because this is where uncertainty, doubt, and skepticism can emerge: “this’ll never work!” or “someone didn’t think this through!” or “I’m not sure I want to make this change” are all possible reactions to figuring out how we are moving forward together. Leaders need to continue to be clear, be invitational, and recalibrate, as needed.

Commitment Zone: we are now implementing the changes needed to adapt to the greater change that has happened. We have a plan, we are communicating, we are assessing and adjusting, as needed. Leaders need to recognize successes as well as progress and encourage recommitment along the way.

The 100% Question is a question we can use to stay right-sized through the process of change. In the Emotional Zone, someone asserts, “This is terrible! This will ruin our business and our customers will hate it!?” We can ask: “is that 100% true?” Or, in the Reflection Zone, someone might say, “you know, this is going to take us twice as long to move through the process,” and we can ask “is this 100% true?” Finally, in the commitment zone, even when most are positively moving forward, someone could share, “I’m so glad we’re through with change for now!” We might not respond exactly with, “is that 100% true?” but we could shift the question to build resilience and confidence in dealing with change: “what have we learned about our strengths and challenges in this change?”