The Problem with Change

What do we know about life?

It changes. Every day when we wake up something has changed. We are another day older and "life" as we knew it yesterday, in many respects, is no more. Change happens - we know that - but, are we ready for it? Sometimes. And do we like change?

"The only people who like change are babies with wet diapers," is what my father used to say to me.

For most of us, change can be difficult - especially when it comes to our work.

When someone introduces us to a "new" way to do our work - a "quicker, faster or easier" way - do we embrace it? Sometimes we do but, more often we do not. At least not right away.

Change can be hard. More often than not when someone (our bosses) introduces us to some new high-tech, flashy digital way of doing our work - we resist adopting it. Why? Not because it is just "new" but, because doing things a new and different way feels awkward. It just is.

Most of us will pay "lip service" to the new way and some of us will "try" to learn the new process but, inside we are still fighting it. We do not like not doing our jobs well. The introduction of a "new" way of doing things - at least at first - does not let us do our jobs well. We get frustrated not doing our work well and so we give up on it and we go back to doing things the old inefficient ways we are used to. This seldom if ever turns out well.

So managers, before you get too enamored and get sold on the "advantages" that new technology promises to bring to your business, stop for a moment and consider what this change is going to be asking of your people -what you are going to be asking them to do and also what you are asking them to stop doing.

Introducing change successfully really has very little to do with technology; it has everything to do with empathy and leadership.