Blog on the Side

I'm reposting a comment I received by email:

"Thanks for the post to that article about Zappos, Darlene. Very interesting. Now I'd like one on how to convince the people who are already in an organization and completely jaded to quit. That's the one that would really turn things around."
 

Wouldn't that be grand ... as we change the organization and its focus, it's just not the right fit for some people anymore that we could offer people a positive way forward to something that inspires them so they could get to a good fit somewhere.

The old ways of doing things and organizational priorities were the right fit for these employees, but for whatever reason (sometimes darn good ones) they don't embrace the changes. They're miserable and it zaps energy from folks that want to move ahead.

Good planning processes will definitely help most people embrace and adapt to change but not all. Still some people become very distressed by changes, like Hem in the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" Hem is really miffed that things aren't the same. Haw, Hem's buddy, makes the leap and adapts.

I'd prefer that no one felt that they didn't fit anymore (a tall order). Everyone has strengths. How can we put the strengths of people, that don't want to change, to work in ways that make them strong contributors and the organization strong too. That often requires very creative thinking.