Drops against stubbornness

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The human brain is known to reject new things. He simply wants to protect us from the unknown. However, you, as a manager, want to actively and proactively implement changes that will ensure the development of your business in today's unpredictable market. But how can your co-workers be stubborn, spoiled from the past and sit comfortably in a comfort zone? 

Based on two experiences (personal and professional lessons) during this week, I present a list of steps that I took. I supported him with another amazing feature of our brain and that is the ability to adapt.

What actually happened? The person I have been trying to influence for a long time has successfully avoided change and growth, even sabotaging it. So, I changed my approach and moved from pressure to more sophisticated tools. And behold, it worked, the changes are accepted. Here's how it can help you:

1. Set your vision, define your target state, support it by answering the question "Why do you need that change?".
2. If possible, create a map in the team as you travel to your destination. If your co-workers have successfully ignored this so far, use external consultants. It will be a little harder for your colleagues, because of the so-called IKEA effect. In this case, too, it was like this.
3. If step 2 doesn't work because people don't even want to hear about the changes, the old adage says a prophet is not without honor except in his own town, so it's a good idea to use an alarm clock from external consultants. So, I created an environment: "OK, I'll change and I won't push others."
4. Communicate and visualize agreed steps. People are not always active or proactive and will spend the change later. When they have it in their eyes, it tends to "snap". On VISIONBOARD, I published the steps that I take with instructions on how to do it.
5. Another tool I used was consistency with zero tolerance. Those who know me from our education know that I am hard on myself. I am in favour of the rule that 100% of decisions work better than 99%. I have now applied this rule non-violently to others. I simply did not accept the old procedures anymore.
6. If I were to summarize the most powerful tools for dealing with stubborn opponents of change, it would be this: TIME and VISUALIZATION. I understand that time is very important, perhaps the most important factor in a project's "three imperatives". However, what works in such specific cases is the consistency of small steps. It is said that a drop of water with its perseverance also crushes a stone.

I definitely recommend adding a clear statement to this list. Some people are implementers of projects and simply do not want to take responsibility. There can be several reasons. In this case, however, it worked for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, let it work for you too. If you do not know how to deal with this, we will be happy to help you with our leadership and communication training.

Martin Zibrín, CeMS trainer