Promoting Change

Why do we resist change?

Change is scary. Change forces us out of our comfort zones and into the unknown, often into situations outside our control. We are afraid of change because we are afraid that this new challenge might make us look foolish, feel less capable, or even fail.

Change is also necessary. It is impossible to grow your business, increase your service offerings, or stay competitive without change. Most businesses are in a dynamic field, with new technologies and creative techniques being explored continuously. It is critical to be open to exploring these changes and to implementing the ones that will best improve your business.

Unfortunately, one of the realities you may face is that your most loyal and long-term team members may be the ones who are most resistant to accepting these changes in your practice.

Over time, people tend to develop routines to perform their tasks. On one hand, this can be beneficial, as it can ensure consistency in job performance and can simplify the training of new employees. Often, these team members take pride in mastering the routine of their position and equate this with mastery of their role in the business.

On the other hand, routines can lead to complacency, which can be devastating for your business. Complacency can cause team members to “go through the motions,” putting less thought and effort into their routine, and may make their work become sloppy over time. A complacent employee is unwilling to change their routine to embrace the new ideas, methods, or technologies that you need to better serve your clients and grow your business. A complacent employee can even harm team morale and slow the adoption of the changes you seek to implement.

How do you protect your office from complacency and promote change as a part of your business?

First, create an atmosphere of change. Start small, but design a series of changes to be implemented over the next few weeks or months in your practice. Make the idea of change something that is a normal and accepted part of your routine. This will make bigger changes easier to implement when the time comes.

Second, talk to your team. Make sure every team member understands the changes you want to implement, your reasons for making the changes, and your expectations of their compliance. Be open to answering questions, but do not allow “that’s not how we’ve always done things” to be a reason to slow or avoid changes.

Finally, make your team and yourself accountable for the changes. Track that your changes are in place and that every team member is on board. Meet with your team and discuss the outcomes of the change and how everyone feels about the change. Celebrate victories and strategize improvements. When your team is able to own the change and its outcome, it will be easier to implement the next and to suggest new ideas for future change.

Return to Blog Articles

blog

Are You Listening to Your Team?

April 15, 2022

Are You Listening to Your Team? Written by Corinne Jameson-Kuehl “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” – Stephen Covey. We are naturally wired to “listen” to someone speaking for the purpose of answering them or […]

Read More

Who is the Pot-Stirrer in Your Business?

March 30, 2022

Who is the Pot-Stirrer in Your Business? By Corinne (Corey) Jameson-Kuehl Today, more than ever, people are stressed and our businesses are affected just as much as any other workplace. It seems I am getting calls weekly asking for “how […]

Read More

3 Tips to Improve Poor Employee Engagement

March 4, 2022

3 Tips to Improve Poor Employee Engagement We all know that finding new employees takes a lot of time and resources. Keep the team you have engaged and happy, and the effort will pay off in so many ways.  Jill […]

Read More