It always seemed that change never happens as quickly as we would like. In fact, I would say that most of the people I know or associate with are all people I would consider to be open to change. Yet, I would also say they struggle with how slowly change actually happens. Does this mean we all, in fact, are not open to change?
Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years about change – specifically in the context of organizational change:
- Change is slow and tends to be frustrating for most people involved.
- It’s often hard to tell how “change” is going.
- There seems to always be more people against change than are for it.
- Factions in the organization try to kill change before it takes hold.
- Feedback frequently comes from why “change” won’t work.
- It always feels like the change is failing right up to the point when it starts to take hold.
I would imagine that this list seems quite familiar to many of you. So, what? Maybe these ideas will help everyone embrace change:
- It’s the journey not the destination that counts. There will always be opportunities for change.
- We all are responsible for making improvements.
- Before coming up with solutions try asking “why” five or more times. You are likely to be surprised as to what the root cause actually might be.
- Encourage involvement from everyone when brainstorming solutions.
- Don’t waste time explaining why an improvement won’t work.
- Focus on improving existing processes without “buying” solutions (if we just had this software, this tool, this…).
- Don’t waste time trying to implement “prefect” solutions, just make incremental improvements.
- Think immediate implementation – if it will take a year to implement it’s less likely to happen.
Now more than ever our orgainzations are in need of change. In many cases it’s a matter of survival. Share these ideas with the people you work with and start making improvements today.
Tags: Culture, Employee Empowerment