We underestimate a lot when it comes to change

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We underestimate our own ability to change. I hear people say, "I could never do that!" or "I'm too old to change now..." and yet these same people often find themselves facing a lay off or a new job in a reorganized company and they're able to bend and flex and reinvent themselves in ways they never thought possible.

·        We underestimate how long changes take to implement. We live in such a fast- paced world that even waiting for our computer screens to change seems like an eternity. We want change now. We constantly underestimate how long it takes to go from concept to delivery. The devil is always in the details.

·        We underestimate what it takes to help people accept change. Recently a top executive of a distribution company said, "My management team spent countless hours in meetings analyzing and discussing the imminent changes we were about to implement. We looked at it from every angle, discussing all the pros and cons. Then when we announced it to our employees we were unprepared for their startled reaction and resistance. How could we have missed the obvious? In order for them to understand and accept the change, we must backtrack and introduce the changes by bringing them along the same journey that we just went through."

·        We underestimate the power of involvement. This important insight is one that many executives miss. Again and again I see companies pushing changes on surprised employees who haven't had the opportunity to go through the same learning and discussion process. We haven't educated employees about the business. We haven't helped them understand how the business makes a profit. We've protected them from the hard realities of the competitive climate. Then we wonder why they don't understand when changes are made to reposition the company.

·        Leaders underestimate how much their role has to change. Part of a leader's new role in the evolving organization is to have ongoing, frequent discussions with employees at all levels about how the business is doing. They need to explain sales volume, expenses, new customers, lost customers, materials costs...all the information employees need to understand how the business works. The information needs to be boiled down into practical terms that employees can understand and relate to. In one company where this was done, a secretary saw that the expenses for postage were climbing at a high rate. Her clever idea reduced postal expenses by twenty percent. Educated employees will make changes on their own.

·        We underestimate the importance of bringing people together from different departments on a regular basis to solve their own problems. Rather than finger pointing or turf fights, regular face-to-face contact builds trust and shared problem solving across the borders. If this isn't done, conflicts often simmer and end up getting bumped up to higher levels to be resolved and then the changes are imposed from above and everyone is unhappy.

·        We underestimate the power and wisdom of the group. My mentor, under whose guidance I learned the most about organizational dynamics, once said, "Trust the group." Over the years, I've found that advice to be a powerful principle that has guided me in my work. When someone in a seminar asks a sensitive or complex question, I often turn it back to the group and ask, "What do the rest of you think?" They always come up with some great collective wisdom. In consulting situations, I find that some of the most creative solutions come from careful watching and listening to what groups of people are saying--and not saying. I've learned to trust the group to know what they are able to confront and change at any given time.

·        We underestimate the impact of making changes in the human system. Often, a company reorganizes or lays off a group of people and they expect productivity to increase overnight. When you tear apart the fabric of an organization and restitch it, people's lives can unravel along with their jobs. We underestimate the importance of helping people through the emotional side of the change, not just the mechanics of the changes.

The solution to the underestimation problem? Let's start with overestimating how much communication, involvement and education will be required to make any change happen successfully. You'll be surprised how much faster the changes will be accepted by everyone.

Would you like to bridge the commitment gap with your employees?   We provide management consulting, executive coaching and customized, skills-based training for managers and supervisors, that changes behavior, creates a healthy culture and builds a customer-focused team.  Call us today at (800) 348-1944.