This article arrives at the most opportune moment! Your insight into the overlooked grief cycle in organizational change, especially with AI, is truly brilliant. It makes me woder, how do we quantify the 'worth it' for people losing identity, and integrate that into pollicy?
Andreea, thank you so much for the feedback as well as your readership. I suggest that you have identified exactly the right tension. The 'worth it' calculation is deeply personal and varies wildly across individuals, which is why blanket change initiatives are often challenged.
Research from Weiner's organizational readiness framework suggests we need to assess both capability (can people actually do what we're asking?) and commitment (do they believe the change is worth the cost?) before implementation, not after. It is of course, hard, as often each is easier in subjectivity opposed to objectivity. But I suggest the attempt reveals a lot that can be considered and incorporated.
The policy integration piece is where most organizations stumble. They measure ROI in productivity metrics, which can be an informational indicator, while ignoring identity disruption costs. Some work from implementation science suggests measuring psychological safety indicators and role clarity scores throughout transitions as leading indicators of sustainable change. Captured either via surveys, individual conversations, words that people use. We often reveal more of ourselves that we realize in the ways we communicate and what we focus on.
When those metrics decline, it's a signal that the identity cost is exceeding perceived value, regardless of what the business case promised.
The real challenge is that we've built most organizational policies around the assumption that rational benefit explanations will override emotional losses. Your question gets at why that approach consistently leads to less than hoped for results. I am currently working on next week's issue on the resistance we dont see covering a variety of behaviors and how to address. Interestingly, even the most positive about change still exhibit some resistance. I hope that helps as you plot out the "worth it". Thank you again for your comment.
This article arrives at the most opportune moment! Your insight into the overlooked grief cycle in organizational change, especially with AI, is truly brilliant. It makes me woder, how do we quantify the 'worth it' for people losing identity, and integrate that into pollicy?
Andreea, thank you so much for the feedback as well as your readership. I suggest that you have identified exactly the right tension. The 'worth it' calculation is deeply personal and varies wildly across individuals, which is why blanket change initiatives are often challenged.
Research from Weiner's organizational readiness framework suggests we need to assess both capability (can people actually do what we're asking?) and commitment (do they believe the change is worth the cost?) before implementation, not after. It is of course, hard, as often each is easier in subjectivity opposed to objectivity. But I suggest the attempt reveals a lot that can be considered and incorporated.
The policy integration piece is where most organizations stumble. They measure ROI in productivity metrics, which can be an informational indicator, while ignoring identity disruption costs. Some work from implementation science suggests measuring psychological safety indicators and role clarity scores throughout transitions as leading indicators of sustainable change. Captured either via surveys, individual conversations, words that people use. We often reveal more of ourselves that we realize in the ways we communicate and what we focus on.
When those metrics decline, it's a signal that the identity cost is exceeding perceived value, regardless of what the business case promised.
The real challenge is that we've built most organizational policies around the assumption that rational benefit explanations will override emotional losses. Your question gets at why that approach consistently leads to less than hoped for results. I am currently working on next week's issue on the resistance we dont see covering a variety of behaviors and how to address. Interestingly, even the most positive about change still exhibit some resistance. I hope that helps as you plot out the "worth it". Thank you again for your comment.