I recently spent some time with one of our customers who were making a change to one of their facilities. I asked him how the people were handling the change. His response was like many I’ve heard in the past. He said, “I don’t understand why people don’t want to change. I can’t figure out if they are lazy or just scared of what will happen.”

My response was very simple: “People are reluctant to change is a result of their peer groups’ ability to change.” He looked at me with a blank stare. I went on to explain further.

When a company goes several years without changing, that is the expectation that every employee has. When a company is continually changing, then continual change becomes the norm. Their peer group around them all feels the same way when change has never happened at the company. In other companies such as Google®, Microsoft®, Apple® and thousands of others who change daily, weekly, monthly and annually, change is the expectation. Change is the way they do business. Continue reading…