I am sure that it isn’t a surprise to anyone who has had a really good idea that will improve efficiency or reduce cost that it can be difficult to get that change accepted. If you have tried to implement even insignificant change in an organization that there can be significant road blocks. The fact is that it requires skills in communication, value identification, and some persuasion. It requires a lot of work to document, gather data, and formulate a palatable plan of action. People don’t like change even when it “makes perfect sense”. The ability to articulate with words and prove the change will work with data is very important. Senior management should be asking you how is this change going to improve the ability of the organization to produce. Rest assured you aren’t alone and than every organization has the same issues.
At one of my former clients I was doing a training session with some senior employees. I noticed one of them being especially uncomfortable during a discussion about business value. During a break I asked how they thought the training was going and if they could see how the suggestions could be applied to estimating work they wanted to do. The first immediate response was “I really don’t like any of this. I am planning to retire in 5 years and I just don’t want you to change anything that involves my team.” A very honest and upfront reaction to a shift in direction outside of this person’s comfort zone. I felt really lucky that they were so open and honest because it gave us the opportunity to address those uncomfortable feelings. Fast forward 3 months and this person consistently showed up at all the business value meetings and worked with other meeting attendees to resolve conflicts. Why? In later blog posts we will break down what happened, why it happened and how it is possible to resolve conflicting goals.