A few years ago quite a few members of my family were displaced by flooding. Ultimately their houses were condemned or determined not worth the effort to restore. They were displaced. Displaced in a dramatic fashion as they had twenty four hours to evacuate what they could. Everything was different. Immediately.
That’s traumatic change. There are multiple government and non-profit agencies set up to deal with displacement. It’s a big deal. From afar we don’t always see the trauma beyond the physical damage but the psychological and emotional needs are there. What can we learn from this when helping others work through change? Here’s some thought.
Basic Needs:
The first thing you have to deal with is providing basic needs. In a natural disaster this is water, food and shelter.
In the business world it might be awareness and training on new processes and conditions, access to the right or new resources and a thorough understanding of expectations.
Security:
You want displaced people to feel safe. They are, after all, in a foreign place of shelter and surrounded by strangers. Routines have been upset. Having authority figures around to show that order and control still exists helps ease the anxiety.
In the business world you need people to feel secure as well. Authority figures need to be seen here as well. That means management needs to be visible during and after change. They need to be accessible. They need to be there to answer questions, assuage fears or patrol the perimeter to watch for outside threats. You need to have their backs.
Keys to the House:
You want displaced people to feel there is a little permanence in the world, that they have a little control. They don’t want to feel dependent on others. Give them keys to the shelter, show them around the new neighborhood. Also creating a little permanence edges them toward the possibility that they can’t go back. Sometimes there’s nowhere to go back to.
In business as well you want to start to instill ownership of the new environment. Make sure they stay involved in decision making. Continue to explore new resources. Need to work at making it the new normal.
And there are many more ways to help the process. How will you help?
Once More Unto the Change 