“This May Hurt a Little Bit”

We’re not so good at change, we humans.  Change brings uncertainty.  Uncertainty triggers threat alarms in the brain and so we are inclined to lean away from, rather than toward, change.  

Consider the time, effort and money that companies spend promoting corporate change initiatives, or the potentially greater sums paid annually for the Change Management expertise of consulting firms.  If employees were eager to break their routine, adapt to a new CRM, or embrace the latest in performance review procedures, why hire Accenture?  A corporate change initiative is actually the sum total of the changes made by individual employees. Corporate change is people change, and it is in our nature to resist the uncertainty that accompanies change.    

Still need convincing? Imagine going home tonight and asking your partner to change sides of the bed. Which response do you think you are more likely to encounter:  a compliant, “Sure!” as he scoots to the other side of the bed, or a suspicious “Why?” as she pulls the covers up a bit higher? 

In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe conducted a detailed analysis of the records of more than 5000 medical patients in an effort to determine how stressful events might influence health and precipitate illness. Their work established a clear relationship between stressful life events and getting sick, often seriously so.  Supporting research has validated their findings repeatedly, even across cultures. 

The resulting Holmes-Rahe Scale, assigns a point score to each item on a list of stressful life events and uses the aggregate score for the events that an individual has experienced over the past two years to determine their likelihood of developing an illness. 

Another name for the scale is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, which might also be read as Social “Change” Rating Scale. Indeed, the units of measurement used in the Holmes-Rahe Scale are called “Life Change Units.” Holmes and Rahe were analyzing the impact of stress on human health.  What their work tells us is that Change = Stress.

Relocation professionals like to point out that moving is one of life’s most stressful events. Holmes-Rahe explains why. Relocation, especially international relocation, is a bonanza of change. Because change and stress are equivalent that makes relocation a bonanza of stress. 

This perspective opens up a variety of avenues to understanding the assignee experience and what we might do to make it better. For one, it highlights the vital role that expectation setting plays in our work. When we are able help an assignee accurately anticipate what will happen during the relocation process, we reduce uncertainty and, therefore, stress.  While we are in no position to eliminate all change related stressors, we can help the assignee anticipate the changes and in so doing mitigate the stress.

Whatever professional role we play in the relocation process, we all have the opportunity to review our approach to service delivery in an effort to identify touch points where we might reduce stress by increasing certainty.  

I’m not sure what happens in other parts of the world, but in the U.S. it is common for a doctor to say to a patient, “This may hurt a little bit” before administering a shot. This bit of expectation setting helps the patient in two ways. First it prepares her for the coming pain.  Second it helps her ease any anxiety she may have about the extent of that pain.  

If a doctor sees fit to set a patient’s expectations before delivering the prick of a needle, would it not make sense for a corporation to deliver their own version of the “This may hurt a little bit” message before asking an important manager to move from Zurich to Dallas? 

We all know that international relocation represents a significant investment on the part of the employer. Achieving a return on that investment requires that the assignment be a success and that the assignee remain on as an employee after the assignment. Just as the 

challenge of the relocation and at the same time ease their anxiety about the move. Proper expectation setting offers the relief that accompanies knowing. 

Stress, like pain, occurs in the brain. As a result, it is subjective. Our unique, individual responses to stress are the product of an indeterminate mix of genetics and experience.  None of us will react to the same stressors in exactly the same way. Demands that send Martin over the edge may barely register with Martina. Change the stressors and now Martina is struggling while Martin maintains his balance. 

Knowing that we are all wired a bit differently when it comes to our stress response, one would hope that employers are doing their level best to identify suitable candidates for international relocation. Yet even the best qualified assignees are still human.  This means that they have brains that are hard-wired to be on the alert for potential threats and to avoid the risks of uncertainty.

Keeping in mind the fact that “normal” daily stressors (dealing with an aging parent, addressing marital difficulties, implementing a new CRM at work) do not stand on the sidelines while assignees navigate the challenges of relocation, it is a safe bet that at some point during the relocation--when the property she was dead set on is rented by someone who made a higher offer, when delivery of his household goods shipment is delayed another month, when her teenage daughter calls her at work to tell her that this move is ruining her life--even the most suitable candidates for relocation will approach, even pass, the tipping point. 

The objective of pre-move expectation setting would not be to intimidate or dissuade potential assignees, but rather to prepare them for what they are about to experience.  It would put them in the proper mind-set and enable them to identify signs of stress.  A well-planned and professionally conducted pre-move conversation on relocation related stress would be a pro-active first step toward a productive and successful international assignment.

Research has shown that one of the most effective cognitive strategies for managing stress is the elegantly simple step of “Labeling.” Naming our emotions “I’m hungry” or “I’m frustrated” or “I’m disappointed” actually diminishes the related threat signals in the brain, reducing stress and improving cognitive function. It is a simple solution that is surprisingly effective.  

By preparing assignees for the stress they are bound to experience during relocation, we are putting them in a position to recognize the stress when it hits and to label their emotions as something to be expected considering the dramatic life changes in which they are immersed. Proper expectation setting can help an assignee to maintain perspective. Sometimes, nothing helps us feel sane more than knowing that our crazy feelings are normal.   

Having always worked on the supplier side of our industry, I may not be aware of the efforts that corporations make to prepare their employees for the challenges of work related relocation.  Still, I feel safe in assuming, that most companies are not taking these steps on behalf of assignees. Employers appear to be inclined to focus on the benefits that an international relocation offers an employee at the expense of any genuine consideration for what assignees are being asked to sacrifice.   

Some of the most impactful life changes on the Holmes-Rahe Scale arrive unplanned and unwanted--death and divorce, for example.  It is common for people to get counseling to help them through these changes after they occur. Relocation is a stress-inducing life change that we choose and plan for, which gives us the opportunity to get preparatory counseling in advance of the actual experience. Unfortunately, this unique opportunity goes unrealized in the vast majority of cases.

If getting buy-in for a new branding effort or the reorganization of the manufacturing group is worth writing a fat check to a management consulting firm, then preparing a key manager for the potentially life altering stress you are asking him, and his family members, to withstand during a corporate relocation should be worth a few hours of expectation setting in the form of coaching or counseling.  If we want to improve the assignee experience we might take a hint from the friendly family doctor and let assignees know that, “This may hurt a little.”  Then we can offer the assurance that it will be worth it.