Between news reports on NPR’s Morning Edition, bites of a breakfast burrito or granola bar and watching out for wacky drivers, wildlife and weather, my commute to work includes a checklist of top priorities for the day. It’s always written in mental pencil, since―sure as shootin’―much of what I expect to happen won’t.

That’s because,―ironic but true,―change is constant.

Like water, light and air, everything’s in motion. From our Earth, planets, galaxy and universe, to the atoms and cells that make up our bodies and all that’s around us, change is the environment in which we strive to survive. Changes ‘R’ Us.

This includes the business environment, wherein many consultants have made a decent living off the concept of “change management.” But as a business leader, can you really “manage” change? Perhaps even “embrace” it? Or must you simply “cope” with it?

My opinion: If by manage you mean exert control over, then your efforts at change management are probably doomed from the outset, since the major forces of business change are way beyond the control of even the most powerful titans of industry.

Consider, for example, how the one-two punch of sky-rocketing oil prices and sub-prime lending excesses rocked the U.S. and global economies, temporarily flattened General Motors and Chrysler, and spawned budget crises from the state level on down to municipalities and school districts.

So, what’s a business leader to do? Fortunately, there are better answers than throwing up your hands or throwing in the towel.

A matter of perspective

One of the best definitions of change management I’ve heard is that it’s the “executive skill or art of leading people involved in the transformation of an organization.”

How do you become sharp at such a fuzzy capability? It starts with practice, practice, practice on gaining perspective.

To some people―especially those super-confident souls under 30―practically anything routine is boring. For most of the rest of us, though, routine is rather comforting. Because we tend to fear the unknown, we feel apprehensive about change, realizing it can be either “bad” or “good.” You could lose your job or win the lottery, for instance. And while life often turns on a dime, transformations can also be agonizingly slow.

How change is perceived by individuals is the important thing. The winds of change buffeting your business may or may not be stressful to those who work for you. Whether they rail against change or flexibly go with the flow depends a lot on how well you do your job―which is to see the big picture relative to your business, and communicate your vision to them.

The prayer used in 12-step meetings captures much of what’s required to lead a business through continuous change: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”

So, gaining perspective isn’t such a daunting deal when the first step is determining which events you can do something about, and which you can’t. After that, as the “serenity prayer” suggests, you can either help your employees cope with changes beyond your company’s influence, or “man up” and be a catalyst of change for the better.

Live it or Live with It

When social scientists rank the most stressful life events, leading the list are personal changes such as the death of a spouse, divorce, separation, jail time, and serious injury or illness. But of the top 30 stressful events, ten are work-related, including: termination, retirement, trouble with the boss, and changes in financial state, occupation, responsibilities, or work hours or conditions.

While at first glance this may seem like quite hodge-podge, stressful life events have some important elements in common. For instance, most stressful life events:

•   Involve the disruption of close personal or business relationships

•   Require major personal readjustment

•   Could be avoided, postponed or improved by individuals behaving better

One implication is that, by marshalling your troops to respond effectively to big change, you can minimize the trauma of organizational transformation and chart a course for a brighter future. Healthy companies constantly innovate and adapt to market conditions.

Another implication is that, if you can’t win employee support for changes that make your company more competitive, you could lose market share, be forced to cut staff, or possibly have to shut down. But again, unable to control, you’re largely limited to leading.

That’s why, when important changes involve a key “public” such as your employees—plus their relationship with you and your organization—public relations (such as communications) is a high priority.

Effective communications is far and away the best strategy for navigating big change, whether you aim to live it as a proactive change agent, or merely live with it.

Communicating change

The familiar bombshells of business—leadership transition, departmental or enterprise reorganization, downsizing, merger or acquisition, bankruptcy—can trigger the same kind of emotions as people feel when someone close passes away. Described by Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as five stages of grief, these are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Yet, so can positive efforts to change “the way we’ve always done things” by launching new processes, products, services and entire businesses.

Either way, here are some key steps in communicating change:

•   Anticipate the future, establish a sense of urgency about the need for change

•   Clearly and consistently communicate the vision, especially how it affects employees

•   Engage a strong, guiding group of managers, supervisors, and rank-and-file leaders

•   Involve and empower employees in defining and achieving strategic objectives

•   Create an anonymous way for everyone to ask the CEO questions, then publish the answers

•   Encourage better performance and flexibility

•   Celebrate even short-term successes, press for further improvements

•   Institutionalize new approaches, maintain active executive support

Done right, communications will serve as the glue that holds your business together through a major transformation and give your staff a sense of pride and ownership in the accomplishments.

		Mark Holoweiko is chairman of Stony Point Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing agency based in Haslett. Nationally accredited by the Public Relations Society of America and a certified crisis communication consultant, Holoweiko can be reached at   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .