Are You The Only One Excited For Change?

I’m going to grossly oversimplify some things here.
But I’ve observed employees and their relationship to change.
One of the curious things is it undergoes a metamorphosis. Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, or a Charmander evolving into a Charizard.
Here’s the lifecycle in an eggshell:
When employees first enter the workforce, there’s a honeymoon period. For the first few years, they’re excited to do real work, even as they notice all the real problems around them.
Whether you call this ‘optimism’ or ‘naiveté’ depends on your own enthusiasm.
However you label it, in this phase, change initiatives are exciting. Finally, leadership is taking action! We the people have our voices heard!
Then they go through a few of these changes.
All of them are hard work, added to their regular (and also hard) workload.
Most of them don’t deliver what they promised. In fact, the results are underwhelming.
Many never even deliver anything at all.
And then the next change initiative is announced. Get excited, everyone. This time we’re doing it right!
Only the same thing happens.
Change becomes this exhausting, terrifying concept. Not because people are resistant to change – that’s one bit of nonsense I hear too often – but because it’s all work, no reward.
When the employee sees this, they enter a new phase of their lifecycle. They become cynical.
Maybe they quietly chuckle at every bold claim their leaders make about this change initiative.
Perhaps they’re more openly, nakedly hostile towards it.
Either way, they’re not on board.
Then, if they’re lucky enough, they become one of the leaders themselves.
They see a problem crippling the organisation. And they see its solution. So, with great enthusiasm, they figure out a way to create lasting change across all levels.
Enthusiasm is back in full bloom.
Now, okay. This is incredibly, insultingly simplistic.
But it’s an important insult to deliver.
If you find you’re the only one excited for change, this is probably why. You see things differently to your people, just as they see things differently to you.
You both want the change. Whether or not you agree on its priority, you probably both see it as a nice thing to have.
But your people are probably neck deep in change fatigue.
They’ve been through it all already.
Far, far too much of it.
And they don’t trust that this change will be different. Because, yeah, they’ve heard that before too. This time they have buy-in from the top or they’re listening to employees more or blah de blah de blah.
Few of your employees hate change.
If they’re not embracing your idea with full enthusiasm, it’s because they’re sick of it.
But here’s the strange thing:
Change fatigue disappears when your people trust you.
If they understand you have their best interests at heart and you know what you’re doing, suddenly change isn’t so scary.
I’m not saying it won’t take work to win them over. It will, always. Change is always hard.
But if they trust you, they believe you when you say this time it’s different.

The best way to enhance your organisation is with the ultimate advantage: trust.
But how do you measure something like that, let alone improve it?
Especially if your workforce is stretched thin, cynical and burned out on change?
There are simple, effective and proven strategies you can begin implementing today. I know you can unlock the creativity, productivity and joy of your employees.
Learn how today with my free white paper and all the resources you need to launch your own trust-based change initiative:
https://battenandking.com/advantage

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