Effectively putting an end to resistance - shaping change sustainably
- 4. August 2016
- Posted by: Ralf Juhre
- Categories:
“We must do something urgently…” – in this or a similar way one hears more and more managers, emphasize more and more often and more strongly! Causes? Increasing and ever faster external influences, which demand lived flexibility and innovation from people and organizations.
Flexibility means being able to meet challenges quickly and safely (with the right form of work). However, specialists and managers have not learned enough how to use change effectively. Flexibility and innovation (innovation = ability to solve problems) are in many places not among the virtues of the working world and are certainly even less so in the first place of German culture. On the contrary: stabilizing, preserving, perfecting, preserving, maintaining, traditionalizing – this corresponds to us, gives us joy and support. The accompanying sobering statement of our time:
There are too many people who are professionals at preserving the old and amateurs at trying the new!
Even if the first step, the insight into the necessary change, is done, many organizations fail in addition, technical and high-level personnel in the next step: the experience and tools of practical change know how´s are missing. A sure instinct and the right procedural strategy are the decisive success factors. Mistakes are punished with lacking readiness for change and resistance – the largest hurdles with changes in organizations.
How can these hurdles be overcome effectively?
A planned and structured change adapted to the pace of the organization avoids undesirable developments and failure of the change process. It should be borne in mind that change – individually or as an organization – always means trying something new and letting go of the old. Letting go, however, is always a departure from pleasant comfort, loved habits and, above all, from reassuring security. Change, therefore, creates unrest. Who’s wondering about people reacting anxiously to changes?
Conclusion: Change needs CONFIDENCE!
Change processes are all too often “prescribed”. However, if the change requires trust from those who are affected by it, resistance to change is inevitable. It manifests itself passively in every imaginable way (service according to regulations, evasion e.g. in sick leave) or actively (aggression, intrigues, slander, etc.). In expert circles there is no doubt about the following basic knowledge:
Change needs willpower!