Here are some thoughts, in no particular order.
Organizational change is hard for a few reasons. One reason is systemic.
Over time, organizations select for employees who share the "old" values
and procedures. All the people who would fit into the "new" company
probably left years ago because they didn't fit in. Everyone who stayed
did it because they liked the old values. So you're starting with a group
predisposed to the old values. That's the downside. The upside is that
the organization's "old" values give a huge clue to people's motivations.
And that gives leverage in crafting your communication.
When change happens, there will be turnover. Those who can't adapt will
leave, to find another organization where they fit. If there isn't
turnover, you haven't successfully changed.
... Maybe we're in error even labeling "resistance" as a separate
phenomenon. Stable organizations are made up of negative feedback loops.
That's what keeps them stable. Feedback loops dampen change. "Resistance
to change" may just be because stable systems resist change by
definition--that's why we call them "stable."
Think about it for a moment: what does it MEAN for an organization to
change? It means what people are doing on a day by day basis, changes.
They receive and generate different information; they make decisions
differently than they did before.
For example, Company X decides they will henceforth value "quality" over
"quarterly earnings." Today, a conflict between the two is decided in
favor of earnings. An employee making that choice gets a "This is RIGHT!"
feeling in their gut. Tomorrow, they intellectually understand they must
choose "quality." But *at the decision point of their strategy*, they
will feel like they're going against their better judgement. They are!
Their better judgement spent years learning that "quarterly earnings" was
top priority. Perhaps part of the change effort is identifying the
decision makers with the most leverage, and explicitly changing their
cognitive decision making strategies.
-- Stever
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Stever Robbins stever@mit.edu stever@verstek.com
Accept no substitutes! http://www.nlp.com/NLP/stever.html
"You're only young once, but you can be immature forever."