Change is an ally, not the enemy

Over the years of initiating and dealing with change in several organizations across the globe, I came to realize a fundamental misconception people and organizations have of change. Instead of seeing it as a source of renewal and a moment of reflection and projection, moments of change were mostly seen as an unnecessary disruption of standard, comfort and ease.

Mother nature however tells us four times a year how important change is and never seems to be getting tired of doing it all over again. We all seem to appreciate the four seasons and welcome the change it brings to our lives.

In Japan for instance the year basically starts on April 1st when the cherry blossoms are present everywhere and show the strength of renewal and new beginnings. New employees join the companies and everyone is out shopping for a new a fresher look. They gather below the cherry trees to celebrate this very important moment in the year. And yet Japanese workers have been the most reluctant to embrace change as a source of renewal. Why is that?

Mostly because we see change as a threat instead of an opportunity. This is probably linked to the fact that we don't know the outcome of change. Other than nature we don't know what change will do to us and our comfort zone and when having to chose between something we know and something new and different, we tend to chose security.

In a era where media is mostly spreading fear, this wish for security is even more boosted and makes change even more difficult to achieve. The same politicians who claim to go for change, basically inhibit it by using fear as their driver. There are only two motivations, one to get towards something and a second to get away from something. Fear as we know is only good the get away from a current threat or danger, so it's never going to help to bring people towards a new goal or setup.

The only way to bring bring people onboard a change process is to assess the risk of fear and replace it by a clear vision of what will most likely happen at the end of the change process. It doesn't mean that a clear vision will bring them on board automatically, as they will still compare their new comfort zone with the current one and base their judgement on what they think is better. By setting a clear goal it will become clear that change is the only way to get there and change will start to become an ally, rather than an enemy.