A common response to any proposed change at work! This is a major issue that impacts significantly on productivity improvement initiatives. This is usually due to day-to-day work pressures, constant deadlines and organisational pressure.
The consequence of not changing means that the status quo remains, organisation inertia increases and business competitiveness reduces.
Commitment and support from staff has a significant impact on the potential results of change initiatives. How can we improve this?
Recently a manager was opposed to an improvement initiative citing work overload as his reason. He subsequently agreed to participate subject to:
- Agreeing a specific amount of time per week, 45 minutes, to devote to improvement activity with flexibility to schedule time as it suited him.
- Confirming completion of agreed tasks and highlighting any concerns or problems encountered.
A new improvement process was developed to minimise contact, enable flexibility, make skill development available just-in-time and ensure effective co-ordination. The value delivered was significant and ushered in a change in culture.