I am pretty much OK with all those changes and, supposedly, still in a good shape. The people around me might not be feeling the same. This notion came into my mind, right after I delivered my presentation to a senior leadership team in one of our few business operating group. I am managing a project that would deliver a new business computing environment that would significantly change the way people work with business information. While in general they were aware of the upcoming inevitable future and the top leader was supportive at the end, I could sense great concerns from the audience and some blank faces. Yet, a voice of embrace was also present in conjunction with a faintest remain of old school of thought. A mixed of various degrees of angles in dealing with a technolgical wave of change.
Having been going thru a number of same presentations to various different groups, I was already on a high gear. On the latest session, I should have been back to a drawing board as it deals with field operations wit concerned focus on safety, operation excellence, and prodcution. Adressing a change management is becoming critical as it challenges the very basic of human nature: stability. It is natural that we would then be encountering some resistances.
When stuffs around us are in a state of flux, our established routines are disrupted. Consequently, we have to think of navigating our ways moving forward. And thinking is hard work, let alone going into an extra mile of efforts. However, when everything is in order, when going from any point A to any point B is straightforward, we would just need, as my old boss would love to say, a robot instead of creative human being, not to mention about highly paid managers.
Learning from past failures, corporations have been taking a serious stance on addressing change management in implementing any new major inititives brought in to an established business operation. It shall go two folds. People in charge of introducing new things that would shake out the business, have to be equipped with and wisely manage change management processes. It's not just a game of technical prowesness. Mastering techniques, financial matters, and "hard" stuffs are necessary but far from enough. Facts are that pace of adoption for people around us is and will always be not the same. If it's not managed correctly, it could screw up even great things, products, or innovation we are about to put in place.
On the other hand, leaders are expected to quickly and flexibly adapt and adopt - embrace change as a business fact of life. Sadly to say that we are witnessing many expensive managers not being able to cope with it. Even worse is to actively resist change. Last week, I had a chat with a Project Manager experiencing the case of resistance before. He noted that how much more productive we would be if those energy of resistant behavior be transformed and directed into efforts for adopting the change. Surfing the wave of changes, we shall be expecting some bumps along the road. A period of valley of despair would surface that needs to be dealt with and managed before reaching up to the summit.
"Be a good salesman", advised a colleague manager of mine in well knowing the business-technology innovation that we are about to bring. As the saying goes, the only people who like change are busy cashiers and wet babies!
Down to Gorky Park, sing Scorpions, listening to the wind of change. Blows straight into the face of time. The world is closing in. But there would be no magic of the moment. We strive to make it leap forward to share our dreams of tomorrow.
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