When someone in management starts complaining about how the problem is “we need change but people don’t want to change,” I wonder how deeply they’ve evaluated the real dynamics in play. If you simply dismiss employee resistance as “resistance to change,” then you are as guilty of the two-dimensional and short-sighted thinking you’re blaming on your employees.
Change Should Not Be an Either/Or Question
Of course people do not want to change if it means losing what’s working. Would any sane person want good programs or processes to be abandoned just because they were old? A comfortable routine is not intrinsically a bad routine. Likewise, all change is not bad. Life is not black and white—so the way we frame progress should not be that simplistic either.
Three-Dimensional Thinking
Whether you do it for employee buy-in or just for information gathering, management should not be afraid to ask employees: “what can we do better.” Another question that’s also full of possibilities is to ask: “given what we do now, what else could we be doing.” Instead of dictating from above, how about listening and then integrating what you hear into a comprehensive view of possible options?
Yes, employees who have the hands-on involvement in specific areas will have routines that they think are comfortable and that they are loathe to change—but those routines are probably working and effective to at least some degree. If you are willing to give up what’s working, then your reasoning why needs to have more than a two-dimensional answer behind it.
The answer cannot be simply “we need change.” Progress is not a simple linear process with a starting place and a finish line. “We need change” should be converted into your first set of questions as you evaluate the situation and prepare a comprehensive plan for moving forward. If needing change is the best response you have, then you’re likely the one with the problem.