Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Change is not easy. No change is easy. Don’t fool yourself into believing that changes you suggest will be the exception. Prepare for the pain.

I am taking a long walk (1,000 miles, almost finished). This past week my logistics changed. All I had to do this week was walk, no backtracking with a bicycle. This was going to be easier. (Please note, when you hear either of the two italicized phrases hold onto something safe as trouble is approaching.)

Well, I was wrong. I have grown more blisters in the last six days of walking than in the previous 25.

What went wrong?

Simple, I changed something. But the change was supposed to make walking easier. It will make walking easier, once I adjust to it. It took at least a week to adjust.

As a manager, I make changes in the process, changes in the seating, changes in the team, changes in  just about anything that I believe will make the work better. Most of the time, the changes I make do make the work better – eventually.

We settle into a routine. It doesn’t matter if that routine is wonderful or dreadful. It is a routine – familiar and comfortable in some way. Change the routine, and pain follows. The pain may be short lived and replaced in the long term by pleasure. Nevertheless, the pain will be there.

Consider my walking. The muscles in my body had grown accustomed to my situation. I didn’t like the situation (mental and emotional) and knew there was a better way. The better way came, but my muscles needed a week or so to adjust. The adjustment period H U R T.

Consider a system-building project. Our mental muscles grow accustomed to our situation. A change may eventually be better, but it will take some time for our mental muscles to adjust. The adjustment will probably H U R T. Change almost always H U R T S.

Please expect pain and complaining from your colleagues when you “help” them by changing the situation to something that is, uh rather will be, easier. Yes, even when it comes from all-knowing, well-meaning, I-must-be-the-exception-to-this-rule people like you and me, change brings pain. Work through it. Have some resources available to ease the pain and don’t be surprised.