I was thinking the other night about change. When I think about change, I think of the French word, “imposé.” Imposé means imposition. After a conversation with my former French colleagues, I noticed a nuance. My understanding is you are imposed upon by someone else – it is done “to” you (I have a friend who is a coach and interchanged “to” to “for.” What if it is done “for” you?”). My colleagues were discussing various examples when their employer imposed processes on them, rather than discussing what changes they would find beneficial to do their jobs better and would also benefit the organization. They felt resistance surfacing to the upcoming changes.
Imposé of, let’s say, a new process, excludes the very people who can best make improvements deriving from their experiences and expertise. Who wouldn’t feel resistance? It seems like a natural response (or reaction?) – and I don’ think it’s about being resistant to change, in and of itself. It’s resistance to the imposé.
You’re only as good as your team. ~ Marshall Goldsmith
It feels like change is applied to lower level employees, not leadership. I am not saying change isn’t imposed upon leaders. We are all accountable to someone. However, much of the comments I hear are from those who are lower on the food chain. For instance, leadership decides it wants to implement Agile, yet leadership doesn’t join in this effort. They foist the change on their employees, without soliciting their input or role modeling. As a result, resistance and “othering” might emerge.
If you or your subordinates allegedly fear or have other sentiments toward change, maybe leadership also fears change. Or they are imposing it and not participating in it. Or soliciting input from those impacted by the change?
What would it be like if you got curious about why there’s change? How can you find a path to co-create and build human-centric companies?
How do you feel about change? What would help you embrace change?