What can be better than getting home after a tough day at work, slipping into your most comfortable pair of pajamas and stepping into your warm fuzzy slippers?  Brew a cup of tea, plop into that well-worn Lazy-boy that knows just how to snuggle up to you, and turn on a good movie.

For most of us, what makes this scene so warm and cozy, so comforting and relaxing, is the familiarity of it all.  We know our home, where everything is, how it feels, and how it will react.  We’ve learned to turn the knob on the stove to just the right spot to get the amount of heat we need, and which doors need that little hip-nudge to close tightly.

It’s that sameness that brings comfort, brings security.  When we’re ready to ‘spice things up a bit’ we buy a new pair of ‘jammies, we redecorate the family room, or we buy a new ‘favorite’ chair.  For many of us, getting to the place where we are ready to toss out the familiar for the new takes some getting used to.  We may shop for a while, try on things to see how they feel, and then race back to the old stand-bys until we find that thing that is, as Momma Bear said, “Just right.”

Is it any question why we rarely embrace changes that are thrust upon us by others?  In your workplace, you work diligently to become proficient at what you do.  You know where to find all your supplies, have a filing system that works for you, and know the best route from your work station to the bathroom.  Now along comes some boss telling you that your ‘system’ isn’t as good as it could be and you need to change.  Even worse, once the change is made, you can’t go back to the old way of doing things.  Worse still, the decision to change is being made by others; your only input is to offer suggestions to fix something you don’t believe is broken.  Change is being done to you.  You have no control.

Organization leaders need to keep this in mind when they introduce a change process.  We’re told all the time that change is good, change is where competitive advantage is found, and change is the only constant in business.  While that may be true and your organization’s survival likely depends upon your ability to reinvent itself as the market changes, employees by nature resist changes for themselves even while they are encouraging them for others.

What can the leader do?  Develop a compelling vision of what your organization can become.  More importantly, communicate that vision throughout the organization and ask for help in getting there.  Have faith in your team and release their creative juices.  Don’t do ‘change’ to them.  Invite them, encourage them to create the changes.  Exchanging those familiar fuzzy slippers for the new stiff pair is much easier when it’s your idea.  When you inspire your employees to want your vision and to be responsible for figuring out how to get there, change will be embraced, not detested.