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Change happens. Stop fighting it please...
John Deere was a blacksmith who lived in Vermont in the early 1800s.
John Deere the company now is an international implement manufacturer based in Moline, Illinois serving farmers (and families with lawns) all over the world.
Hmm...what happened here? Once a lone blacksmith whaling away in a small shop on the east coast, and almost 200 years later an implement manufacturer and retailer in the Midwest thriving on the international stage.
Would seem like...change.
In 1836 Deere the blacksmith faced a depressed Vermont economy so struck out for those far western reaches of the United States, Grand Detour, Illinois. (Change)
A year later he had an idea. Most farmer's plows were made for the light sandy soils of the east coast and so had a hard time with the black, heavy prairie soil of the Midwest. He thought he could make a plow that would work better. (Change)
With that idea he started a company to produce his new plow in 1837. (Change)
Farmers had to accept-and they did-his new-fangled invention. (Change)
In 1842 Deere added retailing to the business. (Change)
In 1843 John struck a partnership with Leonard Andrus. (Change)
In 1848 he dissolved that partnership and moved the company to Moline, Illinois on the Mississippi River where transportation is more cost efficient. (Change)
In 1858 he transferred the reins of the company to his son Charles. (Change)
In 1863 they came up with their first riding implement. (Change)
In 1868 the company was incorporated. (Change)
In 1869 they establish their first branch house, a forerunner to Deere's sales branches and sales regions, in Kansas City. (Change)
I could go on, but I think I've made my point.
At every turning point and every advancement of the company there was change. And I can promise you a slew of people resisting that change. How do I know? Because we humans beings always do.
Change makes us uncomfortable, it scares us, makes us uneasy. It's like mules being lead across a metal bridge over a rushing river for the first time. Ever see that?
And yet change is as inevitable as breathing. All I have to do is look at my hairline to know that.
Any successful business must be adaptable, almost nimble, in the marketplace if they are going to remain relevant.
Interestingly, employees' livelihoods are dependent upon the companies they work for remaining relevant. But they still put up their fists when change is put upon them.
Understanding human nature's resistance to change, it would be wise for leaders to take people empathetically through; see it from their point of view. Explain it, be honest about it, lay out the logic for it and communicate all the way.
The employee's job is to play along. Share your thoughts to be sure. Leaders should solicit those thoughts anyway. But in the end the decision is not yours.
Once you've said your peace, whatever the leaders decide, they decide.
Your job now is to put your shoulder to the change with a positive frame of mind and give it the best chance to succeed. It's happening, you might as well drop the ego and do it with a smile. Better for you and for those around you.
No passive aggressive sabotage please by dragging your feet and/or whining. What a miserable existence that is.
Do your job. What happens might surprise you. And trust your leaders to make adjustments if their initiatives aren't bearing the fruit they thought they would.
And leaders-prove yourself trustworthy.
Need more?
Maybe I should tell you about Kongo Gumi, a Japanese construction firm that's been around since 578 AD, the oldest continuously running company in the world. That's over 1400 years.
Nah. That would just be piling on.
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