Change can be enjoyable

When people hear the word change, most think of uncertainty, extra work and even more meetings. It does not have to be that way.

When change comes up at work, few people immediately think of something enjoyable. They often think of uncertainty, extra work and even more meetings. But does it have to be like that?

Ben Tiggelaar devoted an episode of his podcast on the Dutch radio station BNR to it: "Change. Why does your brain say: rather not?" His message: people are usually not against change. They are afraid of losing something.

Why change can feel difficult

Tiggelaar mentions a few insights from research:

• A new approach takes extra mental effort. That is why a familiar routine feels better, even when the new way of working is simple on paper.
• Losses weigh more heavily than gains. The leadership team looks at the benefits a year from now. Employees wonder what they will lose tomorrow.
• Self-doubt gets in the way. Someone who does not believe they can do the new work sometimes drops out before they have even started.

Increasing the pressure usually does not help. Yet I often see the same approach: a presentation, a few meetings and, if it does not go fast enough, another presentation. Then resistance is understandable.

So what does help?

Make clear what people can expect. Take their concerns seriously and give them the chance to learn the new work. Make sure they can contribute ideas too. Change remains necessary to stay on course, to renew and to work in a customer-focused way. So the question is not whether you change, but how.

That is what the HELDER method is about:

• Clear assignment: everyone knows what the intention is and why.
• Honesty: everything can be put on the table and questions get an answer.
• Learning and growing: people get help to do the new work well.
• Close by: there is attention for the person behind the job.
• Ownership: the people who do the work think along about improvements.
• Rhythm and results: what goes well is made visible, recorded and celebrated.

Start small and learn along the way

You do not have to change everything at once. Start, for example, with one process in one team. Try a new approach on a small scale. Does it not work? Then you have learned something and can adjust. Does it work? Then record what goes well, so the improvement becomes the new standard.

That way confidence grows step by step, like training for a marathon. Change then no longer feels like a loss, but like progress. And then change can simply be enjoyable.

Source: Ben Tiggelaar Podcast, BNR, "Veranderen. Waarom zegt je brein: liever niet?" (in Dutch).