"I Want Things to be Better. I Just Don't Want Anything to Change."

What we’re really saying is “I want to experience the benefits of change without experiencing the disruption of change.”

 And, who wouldn’t? 

When confronted with the reality that achieving what we desire requires more changes than we are ready or willing to make, we often choose the status quo.

I’ve had many projects launched on a giant wave of unrealistic expectations about how much better life will be once the change is implemented, only to come crashing down when the reality of the impact of changes required to realize the expected benefits becomes known.

My most memorable experience was a CRM implementation with a large international telecom. The SVP of Marketing was the project sponsor and a strong advocate of change. He did an amazing job of selling the benefits and achieving buy-in from the other SVPs on the Executive Steering Committee, who were initially resistant.

His support quickly turned to resistance, however, the day I reviewed the results of the change impact analysis which confirmed that the most significant change would occur in his area. In the blink of an eye, his enthusiasm over the anticipated benefits was overshadowed by the reality of the changes his organize would need to make to experience those benefits.

His transformation from an advocate to resistor was swift. He adamantly stated: “there’s no way my organization will tolerate that much change.” The benefits he was once so passionate about didn’t seem so beneficial after all. He was ready to pull the plug on the project because he wasn’t ready to make the necessary changes.

It was fascinating to observe how quickly the original resistors became advocates and the original advocate became a resistor.

The support he had so skillfully built among the other leaders was strong enough to persuade him to continue moving forward with the project, but in a different way. Taking off the rose colored glasses made it possible to design a phased approach that ensured the organization was ready, willing and able to make the changes they would be asked to make.

So what did I learn from this experience that may also be beneficial to you?

1. We often set ourselves up for failure by not honestly looking at the magnitude of change required to realize the benefits we desire. This is especially true of “out-of-the-box” technology implementations where the cost of the subsequent organizational changes often isn’t understood or included in the process of making the decision to buy the technology.
   
   
2. Improvements won’t happen without something changing. The key is to align your expectations with the amount of change you are ready, willing and able to make. Otherwise, your disappointment at not achieving the result you desired will make you more resistant to attempting other changes – and things will never get better. If you’re not continually improving in today’s competitive environment, you will be left behind.
   
   
3. Nothing changes unless behavior supports the change.  Your words may say you want change but if your behavior says you don’t, you’ll stay stuck. The members of the Executive Steering Committee could have easily decided to take a step back, put the project on hold or give it more thought – words we often hear when the leadership of an organization isn’t ready to implement change. This group didn’t. Their decision to move forward – but in a phased approach rather than a “big bang” – showed that they were willing to make the changes required.
    
4. Peer pressure is more powerful than anything a consultant could possibly say or do. The other SVPs on the Steering Committee had more influence over the sponsor than I did. It was important that they agreed to move forward for their reasons and not for any I could come up with. Sometimes silence is a consultant’s most effective skill.
    
5. Validating agreements as new information becomes available is a critical component of successful change. We obtained agreement in the beginning to launch the project. When the magnitude of the change impact became known, we had to revalidate the commitment to move forward. Otherwise we would hear “this is not what I agreed to.”
    

Is change disruptive? Of course it is – if you’re not prepared for the impact nor convinced the benefits you will realize will be worth the temporary disruption you may experience.

Success is hearing your employees say, the day after implementation, “that wasn’t so bad after all.” And, then six weeks later saying “I can’t believe we ever did it any other way,” instead of “this is not what I expected.”