Shedding Light on Transitions
Work Levels
Work Levels Shedding Light on Transitions Overview There is plenty of material on the subject of managing personal change. Many self-help books though lack a coherent framework that explains the transitions that people go through in their work lives. Work Levels provides the basis to understand work-based transitions and it lays the foundation for managing personal change and assessing risk.
Introduction We all experience transitions in our lives. These are times when we move into significantly new and different situations that we have not previously experienced. These include moves from school to college or into an organisation. They include marriage and the starting of a family. They can also encompass divorce or the loss of a loved one. In a work context they include such periods as taking on a first supervisory position or moving from an operational role into a strategic one. On the whole, transitions are positive but often can also be turbulent times in our development. We have to learn to leave behind some of the approaches with which we have been most comfortable and reach out towards new ways of thinking about the world. Transitions can be likened to paddling across an unexplored and wide river.
One has to leave behind the known and familiar place before the destination can come into focus. But if the water becomes choppy, it is easy to think about turning back and to keep with the tried and tested. Transitions do not occur overnight, they can take quite some time depending on the nature of the change before one feels comfortable with a new way of working. The ease with which transitions occur can be influenced by the work context and the ability to test our new waters in a safe and protected way. There are plenty of self-help books around that provide step-by-step guides for handling the choppy waters of change. Many of these provide rich insights but often lack a coherent framework that helps to explain work-place transitions. The purpose of this article is to introduce a framework that enables both individuals and managers to manage the risks associated with change. This framework can be summarised as Work Levels. Work Levels Work Levels is a management methodology used by some of the world’s leading organisations.
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Shedding Light on Transitions
Work Levels
What do People Experience in Work?
Making this connection provides a dynamic link between people and jobs and this enable insight into the process of handling transitions.
In the face of uncertainty, people make judgements even if these are only tentative and temporary ones. Making judgements means that we use our mental-model of an expected universe so that we can make a prediction. For everyone, the sophistication of the mental-model has to be at least inline with the degree of complexity that is faced in the work undertaken. If this is not the case, poor decisions result and people become uncomfortable as they recognise that, somehow, the world does not operate to the rules of the mental model.
Challenge
Transitions and Mental Models All human beings construct ‘mentalmodels’ of how the world works or should work. Periods of significant change demand that we alter the prevailing model, gain a new perspective on the world, reach out for understanding, discern patterns and then make sensible judgements in the light of the new model.
Anxiety Worry Perplexity
Fl ow
Based on the integrated framework, a direct 'mirror-image' connection is made between the outputs of work and the inputs- the personal capabilities required to achieve these. At each successive level the capability to get one's head around the scale of the challenge needs to change profoundly.
conditions for feeling in-tune with the work undertaken. To use the phrase first coined by M Csíkszentmihályi people are likely to feel ‘in flow’ when the challenge of the job is matched by their ability to get their head around it. This is when they are really using the capability that still differentiates humans from the mightiest computer, namely; our ability to act even though there are gaps in the data and to use judgement. Without a relevant mental model in use, a person will feel uncomfortable and out of their depth. This sense of being out-of-flow has important consequences as shown in the diagram overleaf.
In
The essence of Work Levels is that all work can be allocated to one of a specified number of levels of work - each with its own theme, purpose and core contribution. Core contribution describes the outputs of the job and the value of these to the organisation is in direct proportion to the complexity of the environment in which decisions have to be made.
Frustration Boredom Anxiety Utilisation of current capability Adopted from M. Csíkszentmihályi
The Work Levels framework adds to this understanding as it details the major transitions possible in a working life. These range from commencing employment and often undertaking routine jobs once trained to moving into a top job in one of the world’s largest or most influential organisations.
Our mental models and the associated breadth and depth of perspective set the
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Shedding Light on Transitions
Work Levels Each level in the framework represents a step-change in the complexity of the decision-making environment. Handling a step change in complexity is a major transition and knowing when someone is ready for this is key to managing risk.
Same discipline Role
Experience to-date
The Experience of Transitions All promotions are transitions of one sort or another and demand a level of learning and equipping oneself with new knowledge and skills. How these transitions are experienced however depends upon the ease of shifting the mental-models in use. A step-change in the level of complexity demands the wholesale adoption of a new mental-model. Without the capacity to create a useful mental-model that is capable of handling the complexities and uncertainties inherent in a particular level of work then people are going to feel uncomfortable at best and at worst highly anxious; even incapacitated. When a person is promoted to a new and more complex role, they must be capable of adapting their mental-model to new demands. Ideally, before they actually take on a specific job, their perspective has broadened to ensure that the required judgements are not simply guess-work or the result of anxiety reduction. If the mental-model already incorporates the necessary perspective that equips the person to handle the step-change in complexity and the feelings of ‘not-knowing’ that this generates the transition is likely to be experienced as smooth. However, if the promotion is prior to the development of at least a new orientation, then the transition is likely to feel slow and possibly painful.
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Level 4
Different discipline
Level 3
Level 2 A
B
C
D
E
A = Increase of responsibility within same segment - development within role. This is a low risk transition if a person is currently performing well and the skills and knowledge are in place. B = Same segment / change of discipline – cross functional development. This is a low to medium risk- but depends on whether it is possible to fill knowledge/skills/experience gaps at reasonable cost and within reasonable timeframe. C = Different segment within same discipline – Significant promotion in same discipline. This is a medium risk involving significant transitions. It is necessary to ensure that there is clear evidence that person has the right perspective and quality of thinking skills that will ensure that the mental model in use can quickly adapt to the step change in complexity. D = Different segment / different discipline – cross functional development together with significant promotion.
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Work Levels This is a significant risk to high risk. A person needs definitely to have the required sophistication of thinking as there will be a range of other skills and knowledge to absorb. E = Jumps one segment – major development stretch often associated with fast tracking ‘rising stars’. This is a high risk option and even if someone has high level of mental maturity it is rarely practicable due to individual having missed out on the necessary experience of an intervening level. Summary Using Work Levels can help you manage the risks associated with people undertaking transitions. Using relevant diagnostic tools it is possible to: Distinguish the success criteria and necessary cognitive components of key roles, Place only those people ready to take on step changes in complexity into roles that require new mental models Ensure that transitions are handled well and that people are provided focused help and support.
Acknowledgements and References Dynamic Link recognises the important contributionJeremy Preedy, Independent Consultant and Associate of Bioss in relationship to assessment of risk. Contacts Dynamic Link Ltd UK Suite 2, 16-25 Bastwick Street London EC1V 3PS Phone +44(0) 207 608 1118 Please email: Rosemarie McGuire, Partner, Head of Practice at rmcguire@dynamic-link.com www.dynamic-link.com
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