“But We’ve Always Done It This Way!”: How to assess and prepare an individual or an organization for change

So often when change is introduced it is met with varying degrees of resistance. As leaders we focus on developing the new process only to find the target audience is not supporting the change. Through this experience we learn the hard way that the best processes fail if the people don’t support it. How can we anticipate this failure and what can we do to limit its impact? The first step is to understand why people resist change. People resist change for three primary reasons:

1. Tradition

2. Fear

3. Lack of leadership

Tradition is established by repeating a behavior over a period of time. The behavior becomes comfortable. Think about any behavior you engage in routinely such as having that first cup of coffee in the morning. How resistant would you be to someone suggesting that you change your behavior of having coffee each morning to having a glass of juice instead? Obviously you have the coffee for a reason. It may have served your needs quite well. You can’t imagine how juice can replace that comfort of the first cup of morning coffee. Your first reaction would likely be to question the value of making that change. “Coffee has always worked for me, why drink juice?” This is a simplistic example; however, the feeling of resistance is the same. Any change we introduce as managers is likely to evoke a similar response. “I’ve done this job this way for ten years, why should I change?”

Fear is established by not knowing what will be expected of me and worrying that I may not be competent at performing the new procedure. Most of us experience fear anytime we try something new. Remember your first few days on a new job or you first home purchase, or your first child? All those new experiences can cause us to feel fearful. For many of us work provides a significant level of security. How we live is often dependent on the security of our jobs. Many people equate a change at work to an increased level of risk to our jobs. “If I fail I will be fired”.

Confidence in leadership is another crucial factor to changing behavior. Lack of leadership undermines the trust an employee may feel that the organization is looking out for their interests. Lack of leadership feels like racing down a highway with no one at the wheel wondering “Where I’m headed?” “Who will look out for my safety? “Does anyone care about me?” Sometimes lack of leadership can be a supervisor or work lead who hasn’t totally bought into the new process. Their verbal or non-verbal messages are likely to evoke a feeling of “If he/she doesn’t care why should I?”

The three reasons people resistance change, tradition, fear, and lack of leadership all directly impact buy-in. Buy-in is simply overcoming resistance to change. It must be present in any change initiative for the process to be successful. Managers and training professionals whose work involves change management, will tell you that the best technology, the best process, the most competent employees are no where near as important as buy-in when implementing change.

Assessing the extent of resistance to change and the potential for buy-in is critical in predicting the outcome of the proposed change. When a change is unsuccessful, how can we assess how much influence resistance to change had on the integrity of the change process itself? In other words, is it the process or the people? To adequately answer that question we must consider the following factors prior to introducing the change:

• Desire
• Openness
• Insight
• Values

Let’s consider each of these factors individually.

Desire

Desire is the extent to which a client wants to learn the new behavior. Determine if the client has a keen interest in trying out the new process and wants to do the work involved in changing and maintaining new behaviors.

Ask yourself, how receptive has the client been to the communications about the change? How well has the change answered the client’s need to know what’s in it for me? Make sure implementation of change has been preceded by specific information about what is changing and why the change is necessary. Include in your communication any benefits to those involved in the change. When several departments are targeted for change ask for volunteers first if possible. Those who desire the change will be committed to seeing that the process works. This can build confidence in the process for those who are more resistant.

Openness

What new thoughts has this person had in the past year? Is this person up to changing their view? Change requires change in thinking. As managers and training professionals we must listen closely to the language and the behaviors the client uses in describing work processes. Interview the client before implementing the change. Beware of responses to change such as: “We’ve tried that before and it will never work” or “But we’ve always done it this way”. Acknowledge the client’s knowledge and experience. Find out as many specifics as you can about why previous changes were unsuccessful. Ask what they would have done to make the change successful. Finally, ask if they are willing to try the new process.

Insight

Insight is the extent to which a client is capable of processing feedback about changes in their behavior. Work behaviors are often very personal and have been developed to meet the need of a particular individual. Asking that person to change their work behaviors can be threatening. Ask yourself, to what extent does this individual define his worth by the behaviors he has established? Also, to what extent can the individual view work behaviors objectively?

If the client strongly associates work behaviors as linked to self worth you will need to sell the benefits of the change to the client prior to attempting to implement the change.

Values

What a client values from work is an important aspect to consider prior to implementing a change. Work values include job security, independence, money, authority, recognition, advancement, etc. There are simple instruments designed to assess work values. The results of the assessments will help you determine the degree of importance that a client may place on a particular value. This information can be used in determining how to introduce the change. For example, a person that indicates that job security is their most important value needs to know that there is a certain amount of predictability in their daily work routine. For this individual change will most likely be perceived as a threat to what they value most at work. These workers will be more receptive if they have all the facts about the change, are informed about what to expect, and if at all possible have some involvement over the implementation of the change.

Prior assessment of these areas, desire, openness, insight and values, will help your change initiative in obtaining buy-in. Obtaining buy-in begins with the assessment of the change factors. During the assessment the client will have learned about the upcoming change and have an opportunity to voice any concerns while you can assess their potential for buy-in. Keep in mind that competency and proficiency in the newly required skill is less important than obtaining buy-in to the new process. As training professionals and managers we know that skills can be trained, buy-in cannot.

After the assessment of the change factors, selecting the appropriate department or key individuals to be first in adopting the change initiative is the next most important step. If the change can be rolled out in one area at a time, select the area whose leadership and staff have rated the highest on the factors for change. In other words, select a department that has the highest likelihood of success. Other departments will be paying close attention. A success early on will contribute to buy-in of other departments and will provide credibility to the change initiative. This department can sell the features of the change to other departments. They can let them know what is working and also what part of the change process remains challenging.

Enthusiasm to implement changes in an organization must be tempered with a thorough assessment of the areas impacted by the change. Understanding that employees resist change out of fear, tradition, or lack of leadership can help you prepare for change. Assessing the factors for change and selecting the most receptive department to pilot the change are key in obtaining buy-in. Remember, without buy-in, no matter how great a new process is, the project is doomed for failure.