Hey all…I know, I missed writing here last week. I tried…I wrote some words but they made no sense, so I figured I’d spare you. I’m back on the writing wagon this week, and grateful to be here.
I spent time last week in a course on change management, and after three days of focusing on the different aspects of change, the idea that’s top of mind for me is this: we have a better chance of accepting change if we know the WHY.
Change is hard, no matter how big or small it is. If you’re a creature of habit like me, even changing what you eat for breakfast can be challenging. The idea of large-scale change like getting a new job or moving to a new house or having a baby or getting divorced requires us to keep our eye on the prize. And that prize is the reason why we’re making the change.
In the workplace right now, it’s fair to say that people are change-fatigued. The pandemic plunged everyone into change, and we haven’t come out the other side yet. Disruption was a buzzword before, but now it’s a way of life.
And yet, despite fatigue, we need to keep pushing through with change at work. There’s rarely a time where absolutely everything in an organization is status quo.
When we’re contemplating change in our lives, or introducing change at work, we need to be really clear about the reason for the change. Knowing why we’re doing something helps us make a plan and gives us the energy to push through the hard parts of making change.
Make no mistake – as humans, we really like it when things stay the same.
I have many clients who are really, really motivated to change jobs, but the idea of giving their notice and enduring the upheaval of a new workplace is often enough to keep them in a role they hate.
As evolved as we are, the human brain is still very controlled by fear. And change brings on a lot of fear for us, so our brains resist that in any way possible. Understanding the WHY behind the change gives our evolved brain something to work with so it can overcome the fear and take action.
When we make changes at work, we have to understand the reason for the change, and we have to translate that into a WHY that makes sense for everyone involved. For example, changing the payroll system might make sense for the people who are involved in processing payroll, but those reasons might not mean much to the employee who has to learn a new way of inputting their hours.
There are very few changes that are done for no reason at all – although sometimes it’s hard for us to see or understand the reason. Figuring out WHY the change is happening (or clearly communicating the WHY to others) is going to make the change process much easier.