By Paul Plotczyk, President, WSA
Most large-scale organizational change initiatives fail. Or at best, they achieve only a fraction of the original dream.
Even when the most able and sincerely committed people are leading the change effort, they fail. Why? There are two primary reasons:
- Organizations naturally resist change
- Organizations give up too soon.
1. Organizations Resist Change
Organizations are made up of people and people often resist change. We resist it when we:
- Are not involved in creating it
- Don't understand the reasons for it
- Don't understand the change itself
- Are afraid of the unknown.
Resistance to change is not unique. All physical and biological systems resist change. Physical resistance is called inertia. Biological resistance is called homeostasis. View your organization as a living, breathing organism and expect it to resist change. (By the way, the more radical, systemic, permanent or difficult the change, the deeper the resistance.)
Once you accept that there will be resistance to the change effort and understand the reasons for it you actually will have a chance to succeed. Stop making people wrong for resisting change – they are just being human. Accept 100% responsibility for breaking through that resistance and success will be yours. (Click here to read about Overcoming Resistance by Sharing the Truth.)
2. Organizations Give Up Too Soon
The second primary reason change initiatives fail is that organizations give up too soon. The more complex the organization, the longer the delay between introducing change and seeing positive results. During this period you're continuing to invest resources in the change initiative without proven return. At the same time you have to continue to conduct day-to-day business, while the change efforts are an add-on to everyone's responsibilities. This is the time when those who resist change are most vocal. They point to continued investment, drain on resources and lack of results. It is tempting to give up or at least slow down. (Click here to read about Giving Up Too Soon.)
As a change leader it is essential that you resist this temptation. Continue with unswerving commitment, recognizing that the delay between your actions and their effects is part of the natural behavior of systems.
Guiding change is like being a good friend – you have to hang in through the ups and downs. To succeed you must be committed for the long haul.
As a leader of change you must have the courage to say:
- "This is where we're going. This is where we are not going."
- "Follow me"and define the point at which people may no longer refuse to follow.
- "This is where we will use our resources; this is where we will not use them."
In the words of a modern day philosopher, John Wayne, courage, means:
“BEING SCARED TO DEATH AND SADDLING UP ANYWAY.”
Next month we will explore Why Change Efforts Succeed.
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