Imaging: The Vision of Change

March 2001

By using the imaging process, organizations can better manage change and help employees cope. This article looks at the process and how it can be used to achieve company goals.

by Laura Markos, Ph.D.
Consulting in the Process of Change

This series of articles examines the cycle of change, including tactics for coping with change, and strategies for initiating and leading change. The cycle of change involves:

• Disruption—new data, facts, participants or goals that alter the status quo
• Imaging—envisioning a new future encompassing the new elements
• Energy—effort directed toward or resistant of change
• Action—the result of positive or resistive energies
• Change—the new combination of elements resulting from the cycle
• Closure—the new state of being maintained until the cycle begins again

The overall cycle, and the disruption which initiates it, were discussed in previous articles. Once the status quo is disturbed by new elements, the next phase in the cycle of change is imaging—envisioning what a new future might look like with the new information, facts, participants, or goals. This article looks at the process of imaging change, its increasing complexity as change moves from adaptive to incremental to systemic or transformational, and tools and tips for imaging change.

Imaging begins the moment someone thinks about or learns of a disruption to the status quo: "What does this mean for me? How will my work be affected? What about the way we do it now? What will it look like in the future?" If each individual, team, or organizational unit has a unique reaction to and vision of the change, chaos will likely ensue.

Thus, it is incumbent on change agents and managers to work toward a shared image of the future, which builds on the existing environment, where feasible; exits outdated elements, where appropriate; and develops clear new goals which will delineate and measure success in the new environment.

The Direction and Outcome of Change

Imaging is crucial to the direction and outcome of change. It determines the path along which change will be pursued, and, more importantly, it shapes the goals people perceive to be their targets in implementing change. With knowledge of the imaging process, we can better understand what it takes to lead and manage change, how people cope with impending or proposed change, and what people need to align their interests toward achieving the changes desired.

For risk managers, this imaging process is particularly crucial in understanding how people react to change and in forecasting how incremental or transformational change will develop and take shape. Being able to anticipate the majority of reactions people may have to change also helps change agents to better lead and manage the process of change, and to engage employees in a shared vision of a mutually desirable future.

From Adaptation to Transformation

Depending on the scope and complexity of change, this imaging process may be almost routine, a daily adaptation, for instance, at one extreme. At a midlevel of complexity, change may be incremental, an additional or different process, for example, requiring some new or altered key elements. At the other extreme, systemwide or transformational change, such as a complete reorganization, may require revision of goals, strategy, culture, partnerships, processes, systems, and metrics.

Regardless of the scope or complexity of change, several key steps are involved in imaging a new approach that takes change into account.

• Comparing the old and new situations
• Assessing what can and must change
• Letting go of the old
• Building a shared vision of the new and how to achieve it

Let's look at some examples of simple and complex change, and how each step comes into play in building a shared vision of imminent change:

In placing a routine claim, a risk manager learns that her contact at the servicing firm has changed; the new contact is experienced with similar clients (disruption phase). She assesses the situation and works to achieve with her new contact a shared vision and outcome similar to that which was already in place (imaging phase):

Comparing old and new: "What happened to Joe? And tell me about your experience and approach to these types of claims."

Assessing what can and must change: "OK, it sounds like you have similar experience and philosophy. Let's walk through this first claim in greater detail than usual, and then discuss next steps for the overall account."

Letting go of the old: "I'd like to give my congratulations and thanks to Joe for a great job. I liked working with him and we valued his attention to our needs."

Building a shared vision of the new: "Great, it looks like we share a common approach to this claim. Let's meet to review all open claims and confirm our overall strategy and plans for the year. I'd also like to hear any ideas you may have for improving service and reducing claims."

The type of change in the example above, while disruptive, may be fairly routine, if the new person has similar training, experience, and philosophy to the old. Such changes are more likely to be handled smoothly and successfully by skilled employees who together can adapt their approaches and continue working for similar or improved results. More complex changes, such as the example below, involve much greater disruption, and thus call for more detailed mapping of old and new approaches, and more attentiveness to the human and systemic issues that can make or break the transition and change itself.

Risk management wants to link more closely with safety, on a real-time basis, at all levels in the organization to achieve better results (disruption phase). A cross-functional team representing all stakeholders agrees to discuss how this might be done (imaging phase).

Comparing old and new: "Let's first brainstorm on what is working well that supports our new goal. Then let's brainstorm on what it would look like at each level in the organization if we achieved our ideal."

Assessing what can and must change: "OK, we've generated a great list of supporting elements and of what our new desired future might look like. Now let's focus on what's missing from the picture, and what might be working against our new goals—what do we need to add, do differently, or change to get there?"

Letting go of the old: "We've got a pretty good picture of the new goals and approach now. A few of our previous practices no longer support this new vision. Let's look at each one and understand its value in the past and why it has outlived its usefulness against our new goal. This will help us to ensure that we keep doing the things that still have value and that we don't keep doing something that works against our new goals."

Building a shared vision of the new: "Now we've agreed on old and new elements and overall goals. Let's next develop specific, measurable goals at each level, at incremental timeframes, and then talk about how to continue building collaborative support as we roll out the changes across the organization—involvement, commitment, tools, and results."

Holding On and Letting Go

These examples, and the steps taken to work through the imaging phase in each of them, involve a vision of the future that adds, alters, and/or accommodates whatever new factors need to be addressed, but also an image of a future without certain elements that existed in the past. Thus, the imaging phase is one of building a new vision or way of working, adapted to the impending change, but also one of exiting the old, deciding what is worth keeping and what must be let go.

This is a key aspect of change, a sort of grieving process, which allows us time to reconceptualize the future without elements of the past, to celebrate the past, and to commiserate the losses thus entailed. It is a ritual, even ceremony, that is crucial to our ability as people to let go and to move forward. When this step is overlooked, it may undermine future activities, as it is a necessary phase through which we must work in order to change and grow.

Particularly because of this holding on and letting go process, it's important to remember that change occurs on individual as well as organizational levels. Because of this, initial imaging might be fragmented by each individual's or organization's view of a situation of change. Here we begin to see why change is difficult and why managing it is challenging. For instance, while an organization about to implement restructuring may have already processed the change at the management level long before it is announced, the individuals learning of it need time to process it. Making the process of imaging an inclusive one helps to begin this transition of holding on and letting go, and builds coalition around a shared vision of the future.

We all need time to get used to change, to understand what will change, how we will be affected by it, and ultimately to envision how we will interact successfully in the new environment. When this very real aspect of human nature is forgotten, minimized, or rushed, change becomes very difficult—difficult for individuals to cope with and difficult for organizations to manage successfully. Thus, in successful change efforts, it is critical that the human side of change is acknowledged and addressed, and that the people affected by change are involved in the imaging of the future that will result. This emotional aspect of change and the energy it generates will be discussed in greater detail in the next article in this series. Whether coping with or leading change, managers need to adequately address these issues to manage change successfully.

Tips and Tools for Imaging Visions of Change

When working to develop a shared image of a new, alternative future, several key principles are crucial. We have looked at the process of envisioning change; the increasing complexity of change that is adaptive versus incremental versus systemic or transformational; and particularly the process of holding on and letting go, which allows us to part with the past and move toward the future.

We also looked at the importance of involvement in the process of change and of building a shared vision of a mutually desired future. Vague images of a changed future may be misunderstood or, worse, pursued in different directions because they are unclear. In addition to being shared—building support and commitment through involvement—images of a new future should be stated in ways that are:

• Tangible—clear enough that everyone can see them
• Challenging—motivating and clearly distinct, a stretch yet achievable
• Modelable—enabling exemplars that show and acknowledge the method
• Measurable—so that it is clear as and when they are achieved

A number of tools and approaches are available for working through the process of imaging and building a shared vision for change. Such approaches include:

• Brainstorming
• Objective-setting
• Forecasting and budgeting
• Strategic planning
• Scenario planning
• Future search

Such approaches vary widely in their depth, scope, and thoroughness. Each approach, and its effectiveness in a given change situation, is dependent on the pace and complexity of the change involved, the degree and breadth of the revisions (or re-visions) required, and the ease or difficulty of building coalition around the new vision. These complexities, and particularly their human aspects in terms of energy for, support of, and resistance to change, will be discussed in the next article in this series.

By building a clear, collaborative, shared image of the future, change agents and managers can engage the natural energy which change generates toward achieving shared goals and desired results.

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