Resistance to Change

["Robert Crow" <jr1crow@mindspring.com>]

Hello Group:

People resist change for many reasons.  My first reaction to almost anything is no.  The first time I heard WED say you should get rid of performance appraisals my response was: How old is this guy anyway?  I came out of human resources and had implemented several performance appraisal and performance management systems in companies so it was perhaps natural that this would be my reaction.  But as I learned more I began to question the reason and basic logic behind appraisals and over time became an advocate for getting them out of the system so that true teamwork could take place in organizations.

When I am working with companies to implement a process for continual improvement I know that there are going to be at least three responses to this change process.  There will be those that immediately see the light and jump on board, those that actively resist, and those that are sitting on the fence waiting to see which way the wind will blow.  I use a process I call "spaced learning" to overcome this resistance and eventually get everyone on board.

What is "spaced learning"?  Just as the name implies the learning process is spaced out over time.  I do not come into town, do a five day seminar and expect a miracle to occur.  Miracles are few and far between and are unreliable.  Instead I begin with introducing the subject and discussing the change process we will be experiencing.  I have this broken down into 4 hour segments of time with teams formed and assignments to be completed at the end of each session.  It is a kind of learning by doing approach.  I want to accomplish several things.  One is that I want to build teamwork at the top of the organization.  Having the top management people work in teams that are constantly changing exposes them to each other in a different atmosphere than that normally experienced at work.  This enables them to get to know each other better and to enable relationships to begin to develop.

By taking a "spaced learning" approach change is not demanded immediately.  People have time to adjust and begin to question and hopefully adopt the new thinking or methods of doing work.  One of the most powerful pressures is peer pressure.  As the group begins to apply the new learning to how they do work the fense sitters will begin to see that this has value and that this method is being adopted by the group.  This enables them to adopt the new thinking and begin applying it to their work also.  The group will then overwhelm the active resisters.  They will either have to adopt the new thinking or leave.  Once they begin to do things a new way they will often become the most passionate advocated of the new process.

I do run into some of the which came first the chicken or the egg.  Which do you teach first process or variation, or team building, or effective meetings, or systems, or psychology, but over time it all gets mixed together into a large melting pot. 


Robert Crow
Principal, Crow Consulting
770-396-2280
jr1crow@mindspring.com