The status quo you’re holding on to is what you resisted before
I’ve done a lot of change management in companies and it’s always funny to see how people hold on to their current situation. Before the current situation, there was a different situation, and if I ask how the change from the past to the current went, I mostly find that people resisted the change. They didn’t want what is now the current situation. But now it’s here and they don’t want to lose it.
It’s the fear of loss that is causing most resistance. Loss of time, loss of current benefits, loss of control. But people hardly ever make explicit what they think they are losing. What is so great and important about the current situation? If you know that explicitly, you can go into a change with an open mind and express what it is you don’t want to lose. And you might even find that the current situation isn’t as great as it feels. That’s when you see for yourself what reasons there are to change and that is the way to an effective lasting change.
