Dear Friends,
Easy to say and tough to do. But change we must -- or face the consequences.
One thing that seems to be constant in this day and age is change. We are all on a down escalator trying to go up. Stand still and you move backwards.
To survive and thrive, we must be prepared at a minimum to modify, adjust, adapt and then adopt. And worst case, we need to be prepared to throw everything out and start over.
The railroad industry refused the opportunity to see itself in the transportation business. They had a chance to incorporate air as part of their delivery strategy and got bypassed. Radio failed to see itself in the entertainment business and television pushed them aside, and now we see the Radio comming back after change.
Is it change that is difficult -- or the way we approach change? Often it's the way we approach it. We do not prepare ourselves or others for the natural barriers to change.
There are at least three major barriers to change. The first is habit. We are so ingrained in the way that we do things that to do it a new way, or to stop doing something, causes us to feel uncomfortable. We equate uncomfortable with wrong, instead of different, and there's a tendency to go back to what was comfortable.
Try this experiment. Cross your arms. Which arm is on top? Now quickly recross your arms so the opposite arm is on top. Is that as comfortable? Probably not. Does that make it wrong? No, just different. If we were to cross our arms differently for three weeks, the "new" way would start to feel comfortable. Many people won't take the time or will feel they can't stick to it that long. What kind of support do you put in place to help people maintain new changes during this period of discomfort?
The second barrier is the environment. When we want to change something, others around us may be content to stay the same. Then making the change stick over time is difficult. For example, you want to lose ten pounds and change your diet. Yet everyone in your home continues to have eggs, bacon, and sausage in the morning while you have oatmeal. Everyone at home has roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy while you have a salad with low-calorie dressing. You watch as everyone else consumes your favorite dessert. And lunch at work is no different. What do we put in place to support people who may be the first in the company to use a new procedure when everyone around them is content to use the old one?
The third barrier to change is multiple priorities. When we want to make a change, it most often affects one part of our daily lives -- not all of it. It affects one area of responsibility in our job -- not all of it. We don't have 100% of our energy to put into maintaining this new change. Other priorities demand our time and attention, so it is a challenge to consciously focus on the change we want to maintain. What do we put in place to help us maintain that focus while the change becomes habit? Most often, having the support of others, if not everyone, is a big step toward minimizing these barriers and making change happen more quickly and with less frustration. Getting support in advance of the change and working to develop several ways to support and reinforce the change in advance of its happening is key to making the transition from old to new more smoothly.
As a final way to look at change, think back to something you personally wanted to do differently. Was the transition easy or hard? Why? To what extent did these three barriers exist? What, if anything, was put in place to help overcome them? If you had it to do all over again how would you use the knowledge of these three barriers to make the change happen more smoothly?
Change will be a constant from now on. The question is, will you and I address these barriers in advance of the change to minimize the barriers and maximize the ease and benefit of the transition?
It's a choice you and I make every day.
Warm Regards Nikhil |
