Humans tend to resist change, I think we all know that. What’s become clearer over recent years is why this is so. Simply put, brain science tells us the less we think, the less energy we consume. To support this, we develop habits that require less and less thought the more they become engrained. This is a survival mechanism from our hunter gatherer days.
A change in routine (habit) consumes energy thus our body’s natural reaction is for the brain to (unconsciously) resist. There are things we can do to reduce this natural resistance. They have and are happening at the farming enterprise. For example:
- The high collaboration / low tech system was introduced to the maintenance manager and leading hand November last year. Three things were important in that introduction:
- They were asked what would make a ‘great day’ for them.
- They were asked what gets in their way (of that above).
- They were given a choice as to whether to have a go at this system or not. (Noting Einstein’s well known definition of insanity!)
- A preparation plan was drafted, reviewed with the maintenance manager and leading hand (and adjusted). The prep tasks have now been done.
- The most important task was for the maintenance manager to brief his team on what was coming well beforehand – apply a foundation for good relations being ‘tell people in advance about changes that will affect them’.
This foundation is sometimes misunderstood and is worth some discussion.
It’s not about telling people in advance to reduce their reaction. It is about recognising what’s already been stated (humans naturally resist change) thus giving people time to state how they feel, have input and for you, the manager, to have time to help them through their natural reaction. Then, when the time comes to affect the change, emotions associated with the change have already been given a chance to be worked through. The emotions and change don’t collide – they still happen but not at the same time.
Practise of our routine for establishing the high collaboration system will start Jan 28. In 4 weeks or so I’ll describe what actually happened!