Caught between the old and the new can create negative consequences for both employees and businesses.
Here’s how to minimize those impacts when change is presented.
by Jeff Nevenhoven for Industry Week
photo: AlexanderNikiforov/iStock/Getty Images
“Dad, I can’t do it that way. I have to do it this way,” my son insisted. “Why?” I mumbled. “This way is easier and faster.” And who on earth decided this was the way to solve math problems, I thought to myself. My mind flashed back to the ’70’s and Mr. Krainer’s sixth-grade math class. Oh, how he drilled multiplication into our young minds!
Just a few minutes earlier my son had come out of his bedroom and asked for some help with his homework. He was trying to complete his math assignment using the common core math methodology, something I had heard of but was not familiar with. I read through his assignment and quickly dismissed this alien approach in favor of how I had done math along with every human being since the beginning of time. As my son watched me solve the problems the old-school way, he sighed and told me that he had to show his work using the common core math approach. My way wasn’t going to work. Now it was my turn to sigh and let out a Minnesotan “uffda” as I found myself caught between doing math the old way and learning and doing it the new way.
As I reflected on this situation later that week, I realized how often employees are caught in the middle of change, creating consequences for both the employee and the business. The business experiences a delayed or even lost return on investment. Optimistic employees get discouraged, pessimistic employees are content with the status quo, and the others are lost somewhere in between. Being caught in the middle impacts morale and eventually influences culture.
Why do we get stuck in this middle ground and how can we prevent or minimize the impact? Let’s first look at some contributing factors.
Optional Change
The perception that change is optional is typically tied to a lack of accountability. Employees quickly learn when it’s ok to ignore change in one of three ways: by following their supervisor’s lead of opting out, conforming to behavior of the majority (wait and see), or “testing” the system themselves to see if there are consequences for not changing. This is simply a leadership and management deficiency. Supervisors and managers are responsible for effectively and efficiently helping employees adopt and utilize the change.