Human resources: Fill their minds and grab their hearts

By Lin Kroeger, CMC
and Joseph P. Castellano
Consultants with PWD Consulting, Inc.

Today, some organizations are trying to stay ahead of the competition, imposing change by changing their technology, introducing new products, restructuring, or merging. Some organizations have created teams to increase creativity and produce "synergy." Yet many organizations are also trying to figure out why their investments in change — whether internally managed or consultant-led — are not yet producing significant returns. It is because people continue to resist change.

Until organizations invest in dialogue and information sharing, without regard for differences in rank, perspective, priorities, and life structures, organizations won’t get significant return from change. The people of the organization hold the future in their hands, and it is only through their minds and hearts that change will take place, take hold, and produce results.

Individuals choose to change or not change. Have you ever tried to tell a child mesmerized by a cartoon character that it is time to go take a bath? Have you ever tried to convince an adult that eating healthier or exercising more is something he should do and then actually get him to do it? Have you gotten results? Probably not, unless the child really wanted a bath, or the adult was really ready to change his habits.

No psychological principles are universally applicable to all people, but it is fair to suggest that people change when they see more value in changing than in not changing. People tend to be efficient at changing to protect their own self-interests. What is more in their self-interest than staying within their existing work community with its strong social ties? What is more in their self-interest than being able to shape what change will look like and how they will get there? What is more in their self-interest than ensuring the organization achieves strong results so that jobs, rewards, and career opportunities exist?

Organizations have an opportunity to tap into the wealth and knowledge of their people by providing information about the business, its market context, its financial results, and its operational challenges. They can tap into their own people by having them tackle the issues of change for themselves, thus ensuring that employees at all levels interact and collaborate.

Leaders of organizations won’t be effective if they abdicate responsibility for shaping strategy and communicating effectively. The people of the organization won’t be effective if they don’t understand what and how to contribute and if they don’t have an opportunity to contribute and learn how to produce results while receiving benefit.

At $40,000 to $300,000 per person replacement cost (minimal estimates), no company can afford to have its productive people leave because they didn’t feel valued, or because they felt their work was irrelevant to the company’s mission and objectives. Nor can an organization afford to have people who "retire" on the job. The accelerated rate of change requires that the modern organization act boldly and quickly to enlist the critical mass of employees in shaping the change in their organizations. To do less will lead to the failure to achieve business results.

The challenge to the modern organization is how to engage people’s minds and get people fully informed about the need for change, and how to grab their hearts so that they choose to change.

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