50 Reasons Not to Change
This morning I was doing my routine clean-up of my desk and files at work. I do this to remove the unread material, stale documents, and otherwise useless material that is cluttering my work space. I've found a pile of safety/promotional marketing catalogs (many of them duplicates) that themselves create a tower of inconvenience. Anything I've not read or acted upon over the past six months is discarded.
In the stack of papers I have found a photocopied sheet that resurfaces each time I do this task. I purposely place it on my desk to become buried over time because I know I will read it again when it finds its way into this mix. I've been recirculating this paper each six months for the past 15 or more years.
I do not know the original author or source of the material. The items on it have appeared in a variety of places that I've seen over the years. This particular list was printed by EDS and includes a few key statements worth repeating. The most bold text on the page states, "Stop. Look inward. Listen. To Yourself. To Others."
What a great line of text for a communicator to read. So often we find ourselves spewing information without listening. We are told that THIS is the most important thing we should be saying. THIS is the material that our readers, customers, viewers, community members need to know. We regurgitate facts, data, statistics, details, plans, and lessons that everyone MUST know. But are we only a conduit of messages? Do we not think, evaluate, consider, and design change when necessary?
I've been on the "job" a long time. Nineteen years in my current role, with several years before that devoted to working in mainstream media. It is so easy to become one of the "old-timers" when working a career this long. Yet... I find myself continuing to be the change agent that people want to avoid. My progress toward things new is often blocked by those that say "we can't do that here" or "that's not appropriate for OUR type of agency" or "if we did that, people might respond."
Innovation is an important part of my career. It MUST be realized for things to move forward. When we are "catching up" to those things that are becoming more mainstream we never will. Being a step behind or a cautious observer while others are trying new things, developing new skills, creating new principals that become standards is not acceptable to me. So I continue to push forward, regardless of the opinions of others. This does not make me popular in some circles. Often, my attempts at increasing efficiency, developing new techniques, or improving overall processes are blocked by policies and hierarchy of control. That's okay.
This leads me to the actual meat of this article. I titled this article 50 Reasons Not to Change because it is the headline of the paper that I bring to the top of the stack every time I reorganize my desk. It is the paper that stimulates me to continue to move forward and to think of new approaches and new attempts at being better at what I do. EDS added a narrative to the bulleted list. They said,
"How many times do we hear these excuses? There are at least 50 reasons not to change. But there is at least ONE (emphasis mine) good reason to change -- because it is the right thing to do! We (EDS) applaud the efforts to reinvent government. Embracing change is exciting. It can cut costs and improve efficiency. Nothing is more rewarding than empowering people to turn red tape into results."
Here is the list of 50 Reasons Not to Change in no particular order:
- I'm not sure my boss would like it.
- It's too ambitious.
- We don't have the equipment.
- It's too expensive.
- We'll catch flak for that.
- No one asked me.
- We didn't budget for it.
- I don't have the authority.
- ¡Es imposible!
- That's someone else's responsibility.
- It won't fly.
- No es mí problema.
- It will take too long.
- It's hopeless.
- We can't take the chance.
- We've always done it this way.
- It's too complicated.
- What's in it for me?
- They won't fund it.
- It's too political.
- We don't have consensus yet.
- It's contrary to policy.
- We have too many layers.
- We're doing OK as it is.
- It can't be done.
- It's not my job.
- There's too much red tape.
- We don't have the staff.
- We tried that before.
- It's against tradition.
- It needs more thought.
- Another department tried that.
- It's not our problem.
- This is just a fad.
- There's not enough time.
- They're too entrenched.
- We're waiting for guidance on that.
- It won't work in this department.
- No se puede.
- There's no clear mandate.
- It will never fly upstairs.
- ¡Nunea pasará!
- We've never done that before.
- It needs committee study.
- I'm all for it, but...
- Me falta ánimo.
- They really don't want to change.
- It's too visionary.
- It's too radical.
- People will talk.
Can you think of others reasons people don't want to change? Please comment.
Comments [2]