Begin managing change by accepting change

Achieving optimal organizational management requires strong leadership. Strong leadership may achieve initial success but a strong management can sustain that level of success and meet oncoming challenges and a changing business environment. One of the most important skills for management is managing change. But in many organizations, there is a fear of change. And the fear is often subtle as well as deep seated.
I once worked at an office overlooking a major road into the city. It became a habit of everybody in the office to take a quick look out the window at the road. It was a force of habit. People would do that whether they were going anywhere out of the office or not. Sometimes they would pause for a few seconds. Perhaps to look down and feel smug upon the sorry souls in the almost perpetual traffic jam.

One day, a colleague looking out the window made a comment that the road was extraordinarily clear. I looked and noticed traffic was flowing smoothly for once. There were even brief periods where there was no cars on the road. His tone was of concern and he asked me what was up. I shrugged, said that I didn't know and moved on. The next day, the road was jam-packed again. We were walking together when he made the comment. He said, with a sense of relief, that road were back to normal.

I don't think he was wishing ill on the drivers that morning who had to wait to get in or out of the city. He was only expressing a sentiment we all have: we prefer things to be the way they are. When things are they way we expect them to be, we call it normal. It doesn't matter what that 'normal' is. In other words, he was wary of change. The concern was not on how a smoother traffic flow would affect the city. He wasn't at all thinking about how it's effect on the sanity of the us living and working there. His concern was simply aimed the change.

This is a very normal reaction. We are concerned of uncertainty. Change brings uncertainty. So it's in all of us to be suspicious of change. We have a natural tendency towards order, even if we differ on what order actually means to each of us. We like things to be in a certain way. Even when some people like disorder and prefer things to change, it would bother them when things stop changing and chaos changes into order. Change, whether good or bad, is always suspicious.

In Step4, as we are choosing the best solution to solve our problem, be careful of arguments against change. This is more so if we are working with others to solve our problem or if it is a common problem that we are trying to solve together. Look into whether arguments against a possible solution are based on the fear of change. While not all change is good, arguments based on the fear of change may not have any basis other than that fear itself. Sometimes, we don't like to do something because it will cause change or upset something else. We dislike it so much that we can't see the benefit that change brings. In fact, when we try to find reasons why we don't like a possible solution, we may not find any other reason other then the fact we dislike of the change that it brings.

This brings us to strange situation. While we have accepted that we have a problem in Step1, described it in Step2 and came out with ideas to solve the problem in Step3, we dismiss or at least do not favor a solution that brings about change. Think of the situation we are in at that moment. Rethink of Step1 and accept once again that we do have a problem. Having a problem is a state that we are in. And the only way we can move from being in a state of having a problem into on where there is no problem is by making a change. If things remain the same, the problem will persists. So accept that to solve a problem requires change. In fact, we have been changing all the time and not realize it. Step1 was changing from someone who wasn't doing anything about a problem into a person who is doing something. Step3 was about finding out what we can do to solve the problem or what changes can make. We have been changing for a while already, why stop now?
We can legitimately fear that change will bring about something worse or create another problem. The moment we come to this thinking, we must quickly define what is it we think is worse or what problem do we think it will create. Move past the fear. We don't want to dwell on the fear itself. Define the reasons behind the fear and address it. Think of ways to limit the bad effects of the change or prevent them altogether. Once we know what they are and how they could be dealt with, we can move on and evaluate other possible solutions. We may even learn something that will help us when evaluating the other options.

Related Articles

1. Change Blindness: the cost of focus
2. It Doesn't Have To Be A Painful Choice
3. Taking the leap