Do leaders experience the same emotions during change?

Coping with change is especially difficult for managers; not only do they have to deal with the change themselves, but they must also support their employees to adjust and cope with change. With changes being compressed into shorter time frames, the need for managers to be guides and supporters in addition to change agents has increased (Dowd, Shearer, & Davidhizar, 1998). Managers need to be available and positive, showing personal interest in employees and role modeling during the change process in addition to facilitating the actual work of change.

Recognizing the complexity of the change leadership role, Garrety, Badham, Morrigan, Rifkin and Zanko (2003) speak to the need for training programs focused on self development for managers and they suggest that cultural change within an organization “can only be achieved through personal transformation among managers”.

As managers recognize the emotional upheaval brought about by change and as they support their staff to work through the grief process while at the same time holding them accountable for their behavior, it is possible for employees to begin to view change as an opportunity to be creative.

Bonalumi and Fisher (1999) suggest that change leaders must seek to understand positive, negative and ambivalent emotional responses to change in order to limit the negative impact and to build resilience within the team. Not unlike the previous discussion, these authors also cite the need for change leaders to assess their own potential for resilience and to model its attributes for employees to learn. In this way, the stress that is associated with the change process also provides an opportunity for personal growth for change leaders.