Conversations—Not Edicts—Propel Change Efforts

Copyright © 2004 by Don Blohowiak
Don@LeadWell.com www.LeadWell.com

If you're working, you're in the middle of a change effort: goals change, priorities change, processes change, roles change…

The incessant cliche claims that "people resist change." But pull back the curtain on this over-worn folk phrase and you'll find much more revealing and instructive truths. Here's the most fundamental: Unless the changes actually bring significant harm to individuals only a very small percentage of people actually resist change—in the sense of opposing it.

True, most people don't rush to "embrace" change. (Which is a really odd concept when you stop to think about it.) But that's because people change at different rates.

The reality is that most of your colleagues will adjust to and eventually adopt changes specified by your organization more slowly than what you might want. Plodding along and reluctance are not the same thing as resistance.

Often a slow rate of change by individuals is rooted in their genuine uncertainty about the changes swirling around them. Or their personal temperaments. Slowness to adopt new methods is innate in about 40-percent of the population. But managers tend not to be a patient lot. So they try to force a fast-forward change adoption rate.

What's the typical impatient—and ineffective—managerial response? Hammering people with edicts and implied threats such as: You'd better get with it or get left behind. Get on board before the train leaves the station. If you're not part of the new solution, you're part of the problem… Would any of those motivational phrases inspire you?

Rather than putting your reluctant colleagues on the defensive, engage them by conversing with them and asking questions to draw them into a meaningful conversation about your change effort. Here are some to try:

• What do you know about the reasons we're making these changes?
  
  
• In light of these new circumstances, what is your understanding of how your job needs to change?
  
  
• What are your feelings about that?
  
  
• What suggestions do you have?
  
  
• What do you need from me to help you be effective in this new environment?

Note that all these questions are open-ended. They beg for a meaningful exchange, and open the door for people to give you useful information about their personal perspectives.

You might learn that people misunderstand the reasons for the change initiatives. Or that they misconceive the potential impact. Or have reservations that are easily addressed.

Remember, in almost every change effort there are misunderstandings, misconceptions and outright distortions that circulate through the rumor mill. Unless you a) find out what these are, and b) address them directly, people will act in accord with these false premises. And waste a whole lot of time and energy unnecessarily.

If there's one meaningful change you can make that will have lasting impact, it's to involve your associates in conversations that will change the way you manage—and they implement—change.

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Don Blohowiak, a management consultant and popular conference speaker, is the author of several business books. The executive director of the Lead Well® Institute in Princeton, NJ, he may be reached at http://www.LeadWell.com/.

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Copyright © 2005, Don Blohowiak, Lead Well Institute

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