Why Is Change So Difficult To Achieve?

People are like cats.  If you don't understand what I'm talking about it's because you've probably never owned a cat.  If you are, or were, a cat owner, you know that cats are creatures of habit.  Their life is one of structure, and they like for everything to be predictable.  They live on a regimented schedule and they like routines.  For example, if breakfast is usually at 7:00 AM and you want to sleep in on a Saturday, forget about it!  If you move a chair from one corner to another, the cat will stop in their tracks upon entering the room and give you a look like, "What the hell did you do!?!  Why did you move that chair!?!  It was fine where it was!"  In other words, they hate change.  They want things to continue exactly the way they have always been.  Does this remind you of anyone you know?  Maybe that's you.  

In my business, I deal with a lot of change.  Life changes everyday and businesses occasionally have to change in order to keep pace with the changing preferences of their stakeholders, particularly their customers.  Sometimes a business owner will wait too long to change and then they'll call me in a panic.  Instead of approaching a new opportunity proactively, it turns into a reactive challenge in a crisis situation.  

A business turnaround is really just an organizational change management (OCM) project.  The challenge for most organizations is that the business leaders are not properly trained or skilled in the art of mastering change (and it really is an art).  This is why the vast majority of change initiatives fail to deliver on the established goals or expectations.  

And unlike bookkeeping, HR, legal, and other corporate functions, change is not something you can outsource to an industry expert, on a project management basis.  It's similar to creating a business plan.  A change initiative can only be conducted by the leadership of the organization because they're the person with the vision of what they want to achieve.  

A change expert, however, may be able to help the leader(s) change by strengthening their OCM skills.  An entrepreneur wears many hats.  Being a change leader is a role that may not innately suit everyone, but like every other business function, it’s something you can learn how to do.  This can become part of your leadership persona, if you're willing to work on it. 

Having led, coached people through, and personally been involved in numerous change initiatives, I’ve can confidently tell you what works and what doesn’t.  The key to successfully achieving change is the leader's ability to sell change to all of the stakeholders, which requires strategic communication.  That's it in a nutshell folks, but if you want more details, keep reading.  

If there’s one quality or trait that is essential for the role of a change agent it’s to be truly genuine with people.  Are you a trustworthy individual?  Do people regard you as honest and transparent?  Do you honor your commitments?  Do people respect your wisdom, which is a combination of your knowledge and experience?  Hopefully the answer to these questions is yes because these are the critical building blocks for achieving change. 

Achieving change in the purest example of a leadership initiative that I can think of.  In fact, it shouldn’t even be called ‘change management’ because management principles rarely work in this instance.  Change requires a leader who people are willing to follow. You can try to mandate change, and most likely, you will fail.  Achieving change requires a change of heart, not just behavior.  

The biggest obstacle to realizing change is resistance.  It takes time to win people over.  If you can’t win them over, you either have the wrong people or the wrong solution.  And let's not underestimate the importance of the latter.  Just like your company’s products and services, if the change idea isn’t good, no one is going to buy it.  Be sure to do your due diligence.  Don’t just trust your gut instincts.  Prepare a business case to test the idea on paper before you launch it.  Discuss the idea with your trusted advisors.  Ultimately, what you’re selling is your own confidence.  You need to be confident in order to make everyone else confident in your idea and your leadership. 

“A house divided against itself cannot stand”.  This is a quote from the Bible, and later used by Abraham Lincoln.  There is wisdom in these words. The same is true for any organization.  “When a group, nation, or family splits over fundamental principles, its energy goes toward fighting itself rather than growing or protecting itself.  Without a core of shared goals and mutual respect, an inherently unstable system is destined to fall apart.”  This text came from Google Gemini.  I’m using it here because it perfectly describes my point.  

In practice, the leader must be 100% sold on the change initiative before they will be able to convince anyone else of it.  People, especially those who are resistant to change - which is most people, at least at the outset - can smell deceit a mile away.  And nothing will derail change faster than a lack of leadership conviction.  Keep in mind: You’re going to be asking your workers to trust their future livelihood to you, even more so than they already have. 

Status quo is comfortable to most people.  Conversely, change is disruptive, which also means it’s risky.  The question everyone always has is, how is this change going to affect me?  And they tend to focus on the challenges associated with the change initiative more than the opportunities.  You have to convince people that the challenges can be mitigated, and the opportunities will improve their life. 

If this sounds a lot like selling, you’re right, it is.  And what’s the essence of sales?  Good communication.  I could write an entire book on what good communication is and isn’t, but it’s not necessary.  Use your judgment.  You know your people, so you should know how best to communicate with them. 

Being honest with people and building trust are critical components of this process.  And patience.  You have to give change the time it needs to happen.  Try to rush it and you’ll likely fail.  Try to change too many things at once, same thing.  Look at any change initiative that failed and chances are, it was due to one (or both) of these reasons.  If you’re going to shake things up, you should expect and be prepared for some things to break.  And some of them, you might not be able to fix.  

Sometimes it’s necessary to make big changes very quickly.  Just understand that doing so is very risky.  Time is money; I get it.  But if you don’t have enough money to buy the time that is needed, then you might as well cut your losses and move on.  

Again, statistically, change will most likely fail.  That’s highly predictable.  But if something is predictable, that means it’s also preventable.  Rather than trying to predict the future, you can change the future to the outcome you want by approaching the problem strategically.  

This is why a critical function of leadership is keeping an eye on the horizon.  Change oftentimes doesn't happen overnight.  The signs are usually visible in advance, whereby you can plan ahead.  If you're paying attention, that is.  Too many small business owners tend to focus on working in their business (i.e. the day-to-day minutia) instead of on it.  

You've no doubt heard the old saying that a cat has nine lives, which means they have "incredible resilience, luck, or an uncanny ability to survive and recover from dangerous, life-threatening, or highly risky situations." (source: Gemini).  Small businesses, on the other hand, may only have one or two lives.  In other words, many entrepreneurs can't afford to get it wrong.  Change is undoubtedly difficult to achieve, but it's not impossible if you're strategic in your approach and you communicate with your stakeholders effectively.  Good luck.

The opinions and viewpoints expressed herein are those of the author.  Community Investment Corporation makes no warranties or representations as to the accuracy or forward-looking guidance of the material.  Readers are encouraged to conduct their own, independent research and consult professional advisors before making any decisions.  Oh, and one other thing - none of this was written by AI, except where noted.