People who plan the battle, rarely battle the plan

In the video below, Pat Zigarmi summarizes six predictable reasons why change fails. I’m going to hone in on one statement she makes during her speech. She notes,

“Contrary to popular belief, people don’t resist changes, they resist being controlled. And, the corollary to that is people who plan the battle, rarely battle the plan.”

I like this. I have often seen (and been part of) changes where a core group of people design the change and then roll it out to the organization. The corporate value we espoused to excuse ourselves from collaboration was “speed to decision making.” Clearly, organizations cannot move as quickly as they need to if consensus driven decision making is the norm, and, speed in lieu of collaboration will actually slow you down. Involving others in the design, taking time to hear concerns, addressing unanswered questions will all save you time when you are ready to implement the change. How many times have you implemented a change and it didn’t take hold?

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