The Real Reason People Won’t Change
Change is inevitable. However, not everyone in an organization is ever ready for a change. People tend to drag their feet, yet they want to change. They won’t change even when they want to change. The greatest assumptions that most managers have is that employees in an organization always reject change, the reality, however, is that employees have a natural immune to change. A good manager should be able to note the competing commitments their employees have and assist wherever they can to help them overcome such limitations.
As a leader in the near future, I find this article very relevant to my career. I am sure at one point or the other I will have to implement change in the organization I manage; therefore, it is true I will face the competing commitments among the employees I will work alongside. According to the article, the manager should be able to handle the process of helping their employees through change with a lot of sensitivity and understanding. I look forward to being more sensitive and understanding to the matters affecting my employees.
Most of the managers always feel the weight of competing commitment on their shoulders. In most instances, they will not take into considerations that the employees are also affected heavily. Therefore, they will ignore the feelings of the employees while developing an appropriate diagnosis of this problem. According to me, this is a mistake that should never be repeated by anyone. In the future, I will ensure that I involve all the stakeholders in developing an appropriate diagnosis for competing commitment. I will do this through conducting interviews with the employees and coming up with the most appropriate solution to approach change. I believe this will help solve the instances of competing for commitment.
Note on the recipients of Change
No organization can change when its employees are not ready for a change. Change starts right from the employees. In most cases, there are those who will feel betrayed during the process of change. However, for prosperity, any management must be ready to deal with such instances. In fact, we prosper in chaos. This is normal.
I am seeing myself becoming a manager in the future. I see this article as a turning point in my career. I have faced a lot of chaos when the topic of change is discussed. There are people who never want their routine activities to be changed. The article calls these people “set in their ways.” In the event that an organization has such kind of employees, the best steps to ensure change is through informing the employees about change through training.
The main reason people reject change is the feeling that their security is in jeopardy. In some circumstances, without proper educative measures, the employees will feel that their source of pride, influence and environment is threatened by change. They will use a lot of energy to absorb the reality. I am sure that in case the organization can step in at this time and assist the employee, or the recipient of change to understand the meaning of why they need to change, they will have unlikely reasons to reject change. In the future, before I implement change in the organization, I will ensure that it is well understood by all the stakeholders. I will manage this process through involving the recipients of change. Studying what they perceive as the right and correct what they assume as the negative impacts of change. I can conclude that employees do not fear change; it is the natural force of inertia that makes them heavy to move. Everyone wants their initial state and since it is never clear what state change will bring, they tend to reject it. This can be dealt with through educating the recipients.
