So, don’t you like change? You will like irrelevance even less

Everywhere we look, change seems to be accelerating. Of course, change is inevitable. Change is relentless. Change is always present.

The problem is, as our family obstetrician used to say, for most people it’s easier to conceive than to give birth. This truism doesn’t just apply to making babies. It also applies to dealing with change.

By almost every measure, the majority of leadership strategies aimed at creating change are doomed to failure.

The Association for Corporate Growth, a leading M&A player, says only 20% of deals live up to initial expectations. The Association for Talent Development, the world’s leading group of workplace learning and performance professionals, says employers are spending record amounts on training. Yet Quality Journal reports that less than 30% of all training is used on the job a month later.

At a time of broad agreement that improving education is critical to America’s future, the National School Board Foundation says systemic reform almost always fails because of poor implementation.

How demanding is effective change and implementation? Consider this analogy from the chief operating officer of a large company, referring to Harvard Business Review:

“It’s like the company is undergoing four medical procedures at once. One person is in charge of a root canal, another sets a broken leg, another person works on a dislocated shoulder, and another person gets rid of a gallstone. Every operation is successful, but the patient dies of shock.”

Here’s a story to help put all of this into perspective.

When our children were very young, my wife and I took the family on a cross-country trip. Several days in close proximity to a car can be challenging, especially when many of the conversations begin with the question “Are we there yet?” So we carefully planned every detail of the trip.

For each of our various stops along the way, we reserved a room at a Howard Johnson hotel. We knew that all over the country these hotels were decorated with exactly the same wall colors, lamps and bedspreads. To help our children feel more “at home” every night, we even specified that each room should have the beds on the right and the TV on the left. The resemblance, we thought, would be comforting.

The trip seemed to be going well. The children were patient and the parents were still relatively healthy. Then on the third night we checked into another Howard Johnson hotel. As soon as we entered our room – which was identical to the others we had slept in that week – our four-year-old son threw up his hands and in a tone of utter desperation said, “We were driving forever and we keep coming back to the same place!”.

That just might be the change. Despite your best efforts, some people will still ask “Are we there yet?” Some won’t mind taking a trip, just not in the direction you’re headed. Others will resist getting into the car at all.

For most people, change is a really big deal. Change may involve the adoption of new technologies, redesign, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, cultural mixing, or any of a number of other forms. Change is a big deal because it often requires leaving our comfort zones. Change is a big deal because it touches our emotions and commitment, some of which may not even be apparent to us.

The big case for change is usually not about strategy or structure or systems. All of these are of course important. But the core of it all is feelings. In the world of human trafficking, nothing changes unless and until people’s behavior changes. And the kind of behavioral change that leads to lasting (sustainable) change must accommodate people’s emotions—emotions that include trust, confidence, passion, and all those other intangible but very real things that make us human.

You can hire a person’s back and arms, but you have to win their head and heart.

Change is a really big deal. Work hard to adjust people’s emotions—their heads, hearts, and hopes—and your change effort can be one of the success stories.