Change - have you heard these ones before

I've just been reading a blog by Seth Godin about some of the comments that he has picked up over the years as a way of countering good ideas and some top ways to defend the status quo.. If you click on the link in the title then you can read them also.

One of my favourites of my own hearing is " I think that the troops are suffering from change fatigue - do we really need to implement this this year.....".

I heard a rather interesting ratio to do with change management one day - and it is called the 20- 50 -30 rule

20% of people are change friendly - you can depend on them to help drive the change forward.

50% sit on the fence in a neutral position figuring which way to lean.

30% are antagonistic towards change and try to make it fail.

The trick as a manager is to ensure that you spend the time trying to woo the 50% and ensuring that you are also generate time with your natural supporters. If you have 70% of the peopole on your side then either the resistors will leave or they will buy in as your programme begins to bear fruit.

Casey Stengel a baseball manager is quoted as saying

"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided."