Status Matters To Change Success

Today I read something that brought up a memory so uncomfortable that I had largely repressed it. I was working as a strategy consultant for a growing company trying to get itself bought. We were a tight-knit group and although the bloom was fading from the dot-com rose, it was a mostly optimistic organization. In an effort to make everything look as professional and capable as possible to investors, there were frequent re-organizations, mostly designed by people who had never previously heard the word.

I was the last one called in to be briefed on the last re-org before the company was sold. The owner who I was meeting with looked pained and was nervously chattering. He started going down the org chart...and down....and down... And there I was, not just at the bottom but barely even connected to anything, like an org chart dangling participle. My response was visceral and I thought at the time, totally out of proportion to the event. I was assured that I was highly valued and respected (and I was well compensated and got good projects). It was just that they "didn't know where to put me". And I could see why. I was happy to jump from project, to account, to consulting. I cared little about politics or management and always preferred to do creative work, rather than manage others doing creative work. I was, am and always have been a creative, entrepreneurial generalist.

So why could I not get past it? To everyone's surprise I left very shortly thereafter although it required relocation for a new position. Although I've stayed in touch with many of the people on that dreaded org chart, I never again spoke to, talked about or even looked at the person I met with that day. But I killed the messenger many times in my fantasies while at the same time beating myself up over my big fat jealous childish ego.

So today I read about a new NIMH study of the brain, specifically the medial prefontal cortex (involved in sizing up others), the striatum (the reward center) and the amygdala and posterior cingulate (emotional pain processing). The researchers scanned the brains of participants involved with a game that resulted in reward and loss of both money and status/reputation.

"We found that the brain reacts very strongly to the other players and specifically the status of the other players," Zink says. "We weren't expecting that profound a response," she adds, noting that the subjects seemed to be concerned with the hierarchy within the game even when it was of no consequence to how much money they could make.

So now I understand; mine was a normal brain reaction to a perceived loss of status even though I was never a person who cared about titles or climbing the corporate ladder. But this new knowledge is even more important to me as a change facilitator and executive coach because either real or perceived loss of status is a major factor that should be considered and communicated when leading large organizational or small business change. Leaders who can increase their own awareness and emotional IQ about the impact of status change on their people and culture, will more effectively help others through, and consequently increase the success likelihood of, their change programs.

Technorati Tags: leadership, organizational culture, self-awareness

Comments

[Karen Chenausky]

I see a direct connection between this post and the one on empathy. From my work with autistic individuals, who are said to lack the ability to empathize, I have learned just how programmed "neurotypical" individuals are to perceive social messages in communication from others, even when no such implications exist.

Here's an example: Imagine you're at a bus stop and your watch has stopped. You ask the person next to you if they have the time, and they reply "yes."

If they were to stop there, you would feel like they'd smacked you across the face. Yet the other person has in fact answered your question in a correct, though literal, way. A person with autism might just take your question literally, not intending the social reaction you just experienced. (And remember: autism is a *spectrum*. So the insensitive person you have to deal with might just be that: insensitive, blind; but not deliberately rude).

What I've learned from this is the power of that social sense, combined with empathy for others. How to deal with the unempathetic person? It's what I'm trying to teach the autistic teenagers I work with: Be straightforward about your feelings. I-statements (I feel X when Y happens, and I'd like Z) are a powerful tool for both defusing potentially explosive situations and for creating a mutually empathetic conversation.