Bad solutions lead to intrusive Change Management

Desire or motivation cannot be created

In change management, a lot of time and effort is put into creating a desire or eagerness for the change and this at all levels of the organization by:

• mapping the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) of different stakeholders and formulating actions
• anticipating resistance
• involving employees in the change process
• supporting managers so that they can guide their team through the change
• etcetera

These are all laudable initiatives that will certainly contribute to the adoption of change. But I do wonder if this is the right approach or sequence. Prosci, the founders of the ADKAR method (stimulate Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement) also indicate that influencing the ‘D’ of ‘Desire’ (i.e. the desire for change) is beyond our control. Desire or motivation cannot be created, it is a personal choice.

Change as a sales process

We can, however, increase the likelihood of eagerness, for example by working on the elements listed above. The problem with this, however, is that the “desire” is stimulated after the solution or change is already there. A new productivity software is…