Did you make major changes in your organization in the last year? Are you now rolling along, living with those changes and wondering if it was the “right thing to do?” Do you hear people in your work force say, “Things were better the other way” and “Let’s go back to the old way, it was better.”
Well, maybe you should go back to the old way of doing things. But before you do, make sure that you’re not falling in to the old “comfort zone” trap.
Most people have a high degree of discomfort with change. And, change does not happen overnight. Change is a journey, not a destination. As your organization travels along the road in its journey, many people will want to fall back to the old comfortable way of doing things. As time progresses along the change journey, people forget how things really were “back then” and they lose sight of the reason for the change.
The best way to determine whether to revert to the old or forge ahead with the new is to face the issue. Conduct a meeting with the decision makers. In most cases, the participants will realize that moving forward with the change process is the best scenario. Perhaps they’ll decide to make some adjustments. Pay special attention to the personal commitments the participants made in their own behavior changes. These are key to the success of any change initiative. Use this meeting as leverage for personal goal setting and continued support to move forward in the process.
