Overcoming Faith in the Old Ways
January 29, 2009
A cartoon character helps to illustrate people’s reluctance to change in the workplace and how we can overcome it.
Sometimes there are areas that clearly need to change, but when you try to initiate the new approach, you meet with reluctance or even resistance from your management. To be successful in promoting change, it is important to understand what drives this resistance.
Sometimes the answers to the challenges facing organizations can be found in the strangest places…like in cartoons.
There is a Bugs Bunny cartoon you may remember from your childhood—or perhaps from college—where Elmer Fudd has the shotgun pointed at Daffy Duck, and asks, “Should I shoot him now, or shoot him later?” Whenever a cartoon character is faced with a dilemma, he usually gets advice from a pair of characters who appear on his shoulders: the angel and the devil.
The same thing happens to middle managers in organizations. The angel springs up on one shoulder and says, “You have to focus more on your people! You have to develop processes that can allow flexibility and encourage initiative!” As the manager begins to nod his head in agreement, the devil pops up on the other shoulder, slaps the angel off, and shouts, “Don’t be an idiot! The way you got to be a director or a vice president was by putting out fires—even if you had the fire extinguisher in one hand…and the matches in the other!”
Does this sound familiar? People have faith in what has worked for them in the past. It is very difficult to get someone to change behavior in this kind of situation. To be successful, you must make the “right” thing to do be the easy thing to do. Demonstrate to your managers how the situation has changed over time, how the old methods are no longer adequate in the new environment, and how the new behaviors and actions you are suggesting will help them achieve their objectives.
Understanding their reluctance to deviate from past behaviors will help you formulate a plan that will lead to meaningful and effective change.
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