Arthur Carmazzi – How to Make People See the Need for Organizational Change

The psychological key to organizational change is that people want to be successful in their jobs… yes, even those “lazy” people. But a person’s desire to be successful in their job is often diluted by the environment.

I always considered myself a hardworking person who puts a 100% into his job, yet, long ago when I was with a large organization, I realized I was spending around 30% of my time doing things that really did not support the success of the organization… I was doing “busy” work. I was only putting at most 70% real effort into the job. And the worst part, I was not even fulfilled in the process. Work was drudgery! But it wasn’t always like that, when I first started, I was passionate, excited and very proactive. I would come early and leave late. I would offer new ideas and do my work quickly to achieve more. And even when people did not accept my ideas, did not cooperate, and even blamed me for problems, I kept going… for a while at least. Then I gradually got fed up, my perspective changed and so did my motivation and passion, I Gave Up and joined the ranks of blamers and non-cooperators and without even realizing it, I started to put less effort into my work. I became one of those” lazy” people.

I never stopped “wanting” to be successful, I just did not believe that it was possible in THAT organization and so I looked for alternatives. I did not believe things could change in that organization.

So if we are to get people to see the need for change, we must focus on the cultivation of great working environment, one where they have the opportunity to be successful in their roles. But because change initiatives have likely been tried before, people are jaded and do not believe a change for the better can actually happen.

To overcome this very real barrier, 3 things must happen within the first week of an initiative:

1.  An awareness that everyone in the organization shares a common vision…
   a. A working environment where people cooperate and work as a team
   b. An environment where people support each other
   c. People can have fun and can enjoy their jobs
   d. An environment where you can trust and feel trusted
2. Senior Management must have at least ONE visible change in behavior that supports the change to a trusting, more cooperative and fun working environment
3. There must be at least ONE visible success that affects the objective of a greater working environment

Since these results would be a prelude to a change initiative, there visibility is crucial needs to be highlighted to affect the result. So help your people to feel that they CAN be successful in their jobs through the creation of a great working environment, then show some results that will visibly reflect that it IS possible… and your people WILL embrace change.