Change, risks and the anatomy of resilience

Citation

Trickey, G. (2013), "Change, risks and the anatomy of resilience", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212eaa.002

Change, risks and the anatomy of resilience

Article Type: Strategic commentary From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 5

Thought leaders share their views on the HR profession and its direction for the future

Organizational change and occupational stress are significant issues in organizational life. At times of major restructuring, established roles and responsibilities change and employees face uncertainty in place of the predictability and security of the past. Of course, this generates stress for some, but also opportunity for others. Although all options for change involve risk and rarely achieve the predicted benefits, standing still is never an option. But when change is initiated, managers and employees enter into a period of uncertainty and incur risk, personally and professionally.

Research has associated employee stress with a bewildering range of different variables, including work relationships, engagement, managerial communication, loss of control, job satisfaction and psychological strain, to name a few. Preoccupied with these survey style generalizations, research is less forthcoming about how individuals react to organizational change, and how to promote the healthiest responses to it. Clearly, employee attitudes towards change are a crucial consideration and new research regarding risk psychology enables a more person centered approach, taking the individual as the central reference point from which to unravel the dynamics of change (Trickey, 2012a).

Resilience helps individuals deal with change

The broad view from literature demonstrates that the capacity to weather change varies considerably between individuals, attributing this capacity to cope with stress to resilience. As an explanation, this is somewhat circular, but the point about individual differences is well made. However, we need to look more closely at the structure and anatomy of resilience to fully understand how people cope with change.

Research into risk type places resilience within a complex mix of personality processes that drive an individual’s disposition towards risk; their perception of, their emotional reaction to and their capacity to cope with risk (Trickey, 2012b). This approach reveals remarkable differences between individuals in coping capacity that span a spectrum of eight different Risk Types (Trickey, 2010).

Varying degrees of risk attitude

Consider the following thought experiment. Imagine you have super sensitive antennae that alert you to any sort of risk and that, being fearful, you have a desperate passion for reassurance and certainty. This combination produces a sort of “risk patrol” mentality, much like Daleks (from the Dr Who television series) who point their sink-plungers at any perceived risk with the electronic cries of “Exterminate!” You always see the dangers rather than the opportunities and are prone to panic. Wary, anxious and expecting the worst, you are the embodiment of pessimism; a disposition reinforced by the inevitability that occasionally one of your “doom and gloom” expectations will one day prove to be correct.

Now try the opposite persona. You welcome uncertainty with open arms; relieved to be excited by something that disperses the monotony, predictability and boredom of the daily grind. Nothing spoils a treat more than to take the surprise element out of it. Restless and easily bored, you have your radar set to “high excitement” and, because you are a stranger to anxiety, you are prepared to venture fearlessly into the unknown to find it. Opportunity is everything and, if things do go wrong, you dust yourself down and get back on your bike.

Now, imagine how differently such people would cope with change and reorganization at work. These two personality sketches are extreme but extant illustrations and demonstrate just how varied risk attitudes are.

One size will not fit all

Two deeply rooted aspects of human nature underpin every individual’s response to risk or uncertainty. First, everyone falls somewhere along a scale that predisposes them to be anxious and fearful or, conversely, calm and imperturbable. Second, they may be more disposed towards impulsive and unrestrained responses or, conversely, be obsessional in their precise planning for every eventuality. These differences underpin the eight different risk types. Each has a different disposition towards risk, different expectations and a different set of personal challenges to face in coping with the change process. These realities need to be addressed, both by the organization and by the individual employees.

There is one very important implication of this new approach to risk psychology. Organizational change isn’t something that can be dealt with through a blanket one size fits all approach. As in so many other cases, the rich and extraordinary variation in individuals will not be ignored. Employees are not waiting passively to be managed as a single entity through a process of change. They each have their own personal agenda and challenges that are deeply rooted in their risk type. This embodies their sensitivities and their reactions to uncertainty and risk. Any organizational change has to navigate this reality successfully to maximize its objectives.

Change is not an option

The one organizational option that is a complete no no is not to change. Gone are the sleepy days of an unchanging high street. The likes of Woolworth, Freeman Hardy & Willis, Chelsea Girl and C&A have long gone and the same is true of corporate dinosaurs like Kodak cameras, Norton Motorbikes, Mackintosh sweets and Sunlight soap. As is clear from the challenges faced by that mega successful innovator, The Apple Corporation, change is, as ever, the essential ingredient for survival and the competition is always at your heels; there really is no respite. Success depends on managing the process and the individuals well.

Geoff TrickeyManaging Director of Psychological Consultancy Limited.

About the author

Geoff Trickey is Managing Director for the Psychological Consultancy Limited (PCL). He has been a passionate advocate of applied psychology over an unusually varied professional life that has spanned educational, clinical and occupational psychology. This includes professional training, management consultancy, research, clinical and educational casework, occupational psychology, psychometric research and development and test publishing. Trickey set up PCL in 1992 and has overseen its continuous growth to establish its current global presence. He is a chartered psychologist with a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in Educational Psychology from UCL and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society. Geoff Trickey can be contacted at: geoff@psychological-consultancy.com