Management Perspectives

Change. Even before the pandemic, the pace of change in organisations was ramping up almost daily. Most organisations right now are reviewing and revising at least some of the following: how they are structured, what processes they use to do their work, the technological systems driving those processes, their business models, their customer offer, and how they talk to the customer about it—and even who their customers are. And now, in response to the pandemic, we are also revisiting our core understanding of the workplace, and how (and where) employees will do their work.

You would think with all this change, we would have gotten good at it—or at least that we would have some agreement about it; how it happens and how best to respond to it. However, in our work supporting our clients through changes large and small, we have noticed that not only are there lots of myths floating around about change—many of them directly contradict each other. Here are some of the most common ones:

MYTH 1: Good employees like change
This may be the most unfortunate myth we have seen about organisational change: that good employees do not have a problem with change, and that it’s only the ‘bad’ employees who hesitate, voice objections, or feel anxious about change that impacts them.

The reality is that change is challenging for nearly everyone. For most of human history, change has been dangerous; the safest course of action has generally been to return to the known. If there was a famine—you wanted to get back to eating regularly. If there was an invading army— you wanted to get back to peace and prosperity. You get the idea. Most of the time, returning to a previous set of stable conditions was the way to go. Until the past fifty years or so, daily life was fairly predictable, and did not change much, and we are wired for that version of reality. As a result, most people see most change as a threat.

It is very important for you, as a leader, to recognise this reality. When your employees first hear about a change that will impact them, they are going to have a lot of questions before accepting it. They will want to know what will be changing for them, why it is happening, and what life will be like after the change. And they will most likely start by assuming that the change is going to be difficult, costly, and weird. Again, this does not mean they are anti-change or changeaverse; it means they are normal human beings with change-as-danger conditioning. Having these assumptions is a self-protective mechanism.

Your most useful response? Listen. Listen carefully to their concerns; acknowledge their validity wherever possible. (“Yes, it will take us all some time to learn this new system.”) Then, once they feel you have heard and understood, you can start encouraging them to think about how the change could become easy, rewarding, and normal (versus difficult, costly, and weird). For instance: “What do you think will be the best way to teach everyone this new approach?” (easy) “We have a lot of solid research that shows this is what customers are asking for—would you like to see that?” (rewarding) “Some of your colleagues have already been using this system and like—we will connect you with them to hear their experiences.” (normal)

MYTH 2: Change is impossible
Because there is quite a bit of data showing that change often does not work, some people seem to have decided that change never works. In most organisations, when a major transformation of any kind is announced, there are people who will roll their eyes, shake their heads, and mutter that nothing ever really changes, and that they plan to just wait till everything ‘goes back to normal’.

The best way to deal with these naysayers is to be sure to share the progress on the change, especially practical progress that affects them, and stories of progress that show that people like them are benefitting from the change.

At the same time, you may have some hard choices ahead: if the change is essential to your company’s success, and there are employees who refuse to acknowledge this and operate in their own ways as the change requires—even after you have listened to their concerns and addressed them, you may need to let those people go. Their continued negative predictions and refusal to move forward will make it harder for others to do so.

MYTH 3: Change is easy
Then there are people on the other end of the spectrum, who are convinced that making change is not that big a deal and that people just need to ‘toughen up’ and ‘get with the program’. Unfortunately, this myth is often propounded by mid-level managers who have had weeks or months to get accustomed to the idea of the change, and then expect their folks to be ready to make the change immediately upon hearing about it.

As a senior leader, you can help by reminding them that they had lots of questions at the beginning, too, and counselling listening and patience when sharing the change with their folks.

MYTH 4: Change is bad
Some people do not just think change is difficult, they believe it is inherently bad…maybe even evil. I wrote a post about change recently for an American news site that is known to be very conservative, and most of the comments in response were some version of, “we do not need change, everything was good the way it used to be.”

This is, sadly, wishful thinking. Every indication is that the pace of change is going to continue to increase, in every area of our lives. Rather than putting our heads in the sand and pretending that’s not the case, it makes much more sense to develop the skills and mindset needed to make necessary change more easily: to understand ours and others’ initial change-hesitant mindset, and to shift our thinking to get curious about how the changes that face us could be made easier, more rewarding, and more normal.

MYTH 5: Change is good
On the other hand, it is important to acknowledge that not all change is good. Some organisational changes are ill-conceived, badly executed, or just flat-out unnecessary. Because change (even good change) requires time, care, and resources, and is mentally and emotionally taxing as well, it is important for leaders to think carefully before deciding to make change in their organisations. Make sure that the changes you implement are feasible (that you actually have the bandwidth and resources to make them), impactful (that you will get a good return on the investments of all kinds needed to make the change), and timely (that it needs to be made now and can be made now).

Busting these myths in your organisation will help you learn to navigate even major changes more easily. And approaching change in this more balanced way will support you and your team to become ever more change-capable in this world of non-stop change.