Exploring change worldviews: "All change is for the worse"

As change management professionals, we all experience different attitudes around change and business transformation initiatives. Some of them are supportive of the program, and others slow us down or even derail us.

These ways of thinking are underpipped by different worlviews and beliefs towards the change and its benefit for the person and the organisation as a whole. In these mini-series I will be exploring some of these worldviews. The posts are written from the first person position to create more immersion and facilitate empathy.

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Yes, I said it. I don’t believe that “all change is for the better”. It is simply not the case. In contemporary society, it is easy to dismiss my beliefs and set of values as outdated and holding up progress.

So let me convince you. Please hear me out!

How many times in your career a large project or an initiative failed? Statistics vary, usually quoted that between 50-80% of large technology projects or business transformation programs fail (source) to achieve their desired outcomes. The money spent, resources invested, people uprooted and for what - a slim chance of success and big payout at the end. What makes it worth it?

In my career, I have seen many projects started with such enthusiasm and hype only to be abandoned later with nothing to show for it. Or worse, leaving the organisation and its people in the worse position. What would have been the long term outcome if all these investments and time had been invested in something which made a positive contribution?

Rarely anything but the people factor gets the blame. They were not prepared for the change, afraid of the new and unwilling to try. Where were the considerations that these further improvements could have been detrimental to the organisation and people? So abandonment was the best possible outcome, not the worst.

It seems everything old is now not worth keeping. The woke society and organisations dismantle things created before them. We have invested blood, sweat and tears in building it and for what! For someone to come and disassemble it all. Destroy the legacy so carefully crafted by so many before them. It is so hard to watch or, worse, participate.

Forgotten are the challenges and efforts to get us where we are. There is a lack of appreciation for the problems yet to come. The new world will create new issues, which could be worse the original solution — more workarounds and problems for someone to deal with. At least now we know how to get from A to B, how to achieve the desired outcome.

Most people prefer the safety of the status quo, of a known routine. The inputs, the process and outputs are known. The results and outcomes are predictable. Yes, people feel uncomfortable with the unknown and the uncertainty. The potential of an unlikely payoff is not worth all the stress, anxiety and pressure. This stress and tension impact us at work and at home. And the more significant is the change, the more uncertainty and thus burden causing anxiety and stress.

When people know the flow of the process and its expected outcomes, they are unlikely to be afraid. When people feel safe and not threatened, they would usually be more productive and committed. Committed people ensure better outputs and outcomes. When people are unbalanced, they rarely can give their full selves to the process. They are too worried and how can you collaborate and share ideas when you are afraid.

Maybe, just maybe we should reevaluate the value of these large change programs towards an evolutionary process of continuous improvement.

Not all progress is for the better. Just look at the busy lives many of us navigate. The new inventions might have made certain things better. Washing machines, fridges and dishwashers have given us time back, but our lives are more packed than ever. We treasure being busy, rather than a life worth living. No wonder so many choose a simpler life, seek escape in meditation and other “traditional” techniques.

No, I am not against progress. I am against a gambling culture. We are being pushed to *try, fail, and try again and then fail again. All this with the hope of a payout at the end. The evolutionary process has shown us a better way - continuous incremental improvement, steady and persistent.

The speed of change is frightening. We, as a species, are unprepared for these continuous drastic changes. Slowing down and letting things settle most likely help us with adapting to them. Latest statistics quote that nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 experience an anxiety disorder or depression before their adult lives (source). One of the reasons cited is the pressure of modern life and expectations which were not on the previous generations. The pressure to always change, to continually run towards “the better future.”

Yes, I don’t believe all the change is for the better. We need to be far more careful in what we force people to do. We need to build on their experiences and legacies, not destroy them. We need to be more considerate of what we decide to implement and how it might make people feel. Let us build on the shoulders of the giants the future by making tomorrow just a little bit better — step by step, bit by bit. The journey of continuous improvement is what got us through the ages, and there is no reason to fix the system that is not broken.