TRY THIS EXERCISE: I commonly ask people learning about change to consider this scenario: An older man with a cane is standing at the side of the road on a busy street. When you offer to help, he refuses. Why?
Typical responses include:
- He’s afraid of the traffic
- He doesn’t know me, so can’t trust me
- He knows how to cross…he’s waiting for a better opportunity
And then I offer this perspective: He doesn’t want to cross at all. He’s waiting to be picked up by someone, or he’s waiting to meet someone and is watching for them.
When we see that people are not moving during a change, we make all sorts of assumptions about why. It’s easy to assume they don’t want to do it. We are probably wrong. There are three main reasons why people do not embrace change:
- I can’t
- I won’t
- I’m afraid
Let’s dive into the first reason: I can’t.
We work in busy organizations. It’s easy to miss a communication, to skim our email, and to misunderstand when we are only half listening to an announcement. The whole messaging system is a game of broken telephone. “I can’t” because I didn’t know I was supposed to do something. Or perhaps I knew there was a change but it wasn’t clear that it applied to me, or what I was supposed to do.
I can’t when I haven’t had adequate training. Or maybe the training is just bad. A virtual session when hands-on is needed. “Let me quickly demo how to shut down this nuclear reactor. It’s easy. I’m sure you’ll be perfect when there’s an emergency.” Uh no.
I can’t when I don’t have the right tools, or right information to do what you are asking of me. I can’t when the new application doesn’t work as advertised. I can’t when the data is suspect. I’ve seen that happen so many times.
Our job as agents of change is to anticipate and remove as many barriers to “I can’t” as possible. Many of them are predictable with a bit of thought. Messages need to be repeated. Language can be clarified. We can:
- Test for understanding by asking our people if they got the message
- Ensure the training is practical and of high quality and ask participants to verify it during a pilot
- Ask them what they need to be successful
I can’t is not active resistance. It’s a result of our failure as leaders to remove barriers to change. Once we do that, most people get moving. Then we can focus on those who say I won’t and I’m afraid. But that’s next week’s story…
Thoughtfully yours,
Jeff Skipper
