Why is Managing Change Hard?

We are looking to change the way a whole segment of society works. Capacity2 is building a community of small business supporters and owners in order that we may all grow our capacity to do and be more.  We want to facilitate the types of connections that bring people together from fractional professional resources to government contractors.  It is a big task to change the way we communicate and connect with one another. 

Founder and President of Emerson Human Capital Consulting, Tricia Emerson, once said, “Most of our clients now understand the importance of change management on their strategic initiatives. Despite best efforts, large scale project failure rates remain at about 70%. Our industry needs to provide our clients with a better understanding of why change is so hard.”  Simply stated, no one likes change. The status quos is comfortable even when not efficient or effective.  Organizations often lack resources who understand change management best practices needed to overcome natural resistance.   

Why?  Organizations often misunderstand that change is a process. They are unaware that any missing step increases risk.  Many times organizations try to save money by skipping steps and begin without a clear starting point or without involving the right people. Skipping essential first steps is like building a house without a sound foundation.  It is impossible to know what lies ahead. Cracks soon appear.

The change may not look big on the surface as in the case of a small plane engine manufacturer who acquired a midsize boat engine plant. It appeared the new organization would merge seamlessly into the current company infrastructure. However, they discovered far too late each had very different accounting, pricing, and inventory practices that could not be integrated.  Current systems were not scalable or flexible enough to handle all the new requirements that kept popping up. The integration project had to start over at the beginning. Missing steps cost money and time.

Additionally, without clear and decisive communication along with proper planning and training, initiatives flounder. Skip ANY step and risk multiplies.  Properly executing each step in a change initiative makes the difference between resistance and failure or adoption and success. Fully employing a change process based on best practices to reduce risks offers the best chance of success.

Fraction by fraction we look to grow and learn from each other.  Let's do the hard stuff together and make the rest of our business lives easier. Here is to our success.