Most managers say, “Human Beings Resist Change” – yet,
when they want, and when they can control the process,
Americans chase the beneficial change! Dr. Tom Cat
Based on organizational behavior studies of the American workforce, the concept of “causing change” is not comfortable for most people. In fact, just under half of al Americans prefer to maintain the work group operations in a steady and predictable environment; about 17 percent of the work force want to maintain a steady and predictable environment by insert quality assurance and quality control elements into the work group operations. That leaves about a third of the American workforce as change agents, and they are divided about half-and-half, between the inspirational “cheer leaders” of their groups, and the task masters who want new “things” to occur, usually yesterday.
THE DYNAMICS OF CHANGE
To many, change is a journey into oblivion, a hazardous step into the void where no person has gone before – NOT! Most people actually want change to gain more control over their own lives, and usually in their own work environments. In response, the savvy veterinary practice leader attempts to increase the staff’s understanding (tell them “why”), so they can increase the desire for new horizons (paint a vivid vision) in their followers, so the team can gain some more control(client-centered patient advocacy) in their own work space (pride in performance excellence). People who enter veterinary medicine are usually here because it is a “calling”; it is not the money nor the great work environment, but rather, it is the self-image, personal pride in belonging, and the “feeling of giving” which keeps them in this healthcare delivery profession. Let’s look at a few systemic facts of the American workplace, and the American worker (including veterinary practice staff):
< Happy people resist change, because they are satisfied
< Unhappy people want change because they are not satisfied
< Happiness is a personal choice, it cannot be “given” to anyone
< Personal adaptive choices can cause happiness or unhappiness
<Satisfaction surveys of staff are useless – you cannot get cattle to gain weight just by weighing them
< Leaders can create the environment to support change, which creates causing a “safe haven” for those wanting to pursue a better work place.
