Few people fight for change.
You can win the fight.
Change threatens. Expect your people to fight against change; even the most sensible and seemingly obvious changes.
Change Threatens
We all recoil against change. It represents an unanticipated risk. Only a fool, or those who recognize they have no better choice, plunge ahead into the unknown. Expect a fight. The bigger the change – unfamiliar, threatening, fraught with risk – the harder the fight.
For companies unaccustomed to change, the call for innovation threatens the status quo. Whether people resist overtly or subversively, the resistance is real. And it makes perfect sense. The video below illustrates how to help your people confront perceived threats and compel them to adopt and even champion the changes ahead.
Ampersand’s work over thirty years has identified four necessary ingredients to compel individuals (and their organization) to change: Angst, Vision, Belief, and Plan. Together they must overcome the perceived cost to Change. We call it AVBP.
Think of it as a formula:
Leaders can use AVBP’s simple math to overcome bureaucracy and inertia, to change course. When ANGST grows too obvious to ignore, when you can smell the burning platform, add the components of AVBP to compel your people to change. Make it obvious.
Don’t force change. Educate.
Learn how to create demand for change – to pull your people forward to a better future. Compel people. Propel your organization.
See Ampersand’s workshop series for more on applying this method to Formulate Change.
Remember: Angst + Vision + Belief + Plan > Cost of Change!
Roger Mader 