Why do people resist change? Why do change agents misunderstand that resistance? Is it point of view?
I came across an article on Avoiding "Spirit Killing" Project Management by Cinda Voegtli, and there are several anecdotes in there that have me thinking about change management in just about any environment.
One of the key elements in the stories that Cinda tells is that people either understood the importance of seeing from the others' point of view and won, or they didn't think to ask for that point of view and lost. In the context of the stories, it was "spirit killing" the people who were subjected to these changes when their point of view was not considered.
Whenever a change is introduced, the people who have created the change are the most familiar with the new situation they want to create and why it should be created. But everyone else? They either have limited or no knowledge of why things should change and how this specific change will meet their needs.
[Photo: "human point of view" by camil tulcan]