You know this person, the one who constantly gets rewarded for pointing out why something won’t work. The person who thinks innovation is changing the title on some outdated form. The person whose own need for stability makes the very organization less stable. I call this person the “safeplayer.” The more I deal with “safeplayers” the more it strikes me as quite astounding how quickly organizations are willing to find ways something can’t or won’t work. Indeed, in my past and recent experiences, I have too often seen people being rewarded and building careers around why you shouldn’t do something. These people usually think they are doing their jobs and that pointing out flaws will save someone or something. And I am sure that they intend to be good, loyal organization citizens. The problem is that these very people also impede progress and innovation that is often the driving force to success and outstanding returns! In fact, these people may not realize that by impeding innovation and playing it safe, that they may be the very factors that are locking people into bad habits that keep repeating themselves over and over again throughout the organization. Perhaps even worse, they may inhibit ideas from even being brought up that are ground-breaking, earth-shattering even life changing! The problem compounds itself usually because these “safe players” often have been right in the past and people simply don’t want to challenge them. This lack of pushback only strengthens the “safeplayer’s” resolve to keep things as they are. Even worse, when a small change is made, it is often celebrated as real change. The problem is, is that it is really not change at all, but simply a further elaboration on status quo. Yet, people miss this fact and are left confused and wondering if change really matters. So, what are we suppose to do? First, stop biting your tongue. If people were to have pointed out why something couldn’t work, you wouldn’t be reading this message on the internet, you would be getting it in a handwritten note! Second, go for some radical change. Don’t hold back. If you want to make change happen, you have to shake up the system. I mean really push the envelope. Think about it, if you are going only half-way or even staying in the same ballpark, has change even really happened? You have to shake up people’s belief systems and their paradigms of how things are suppose to work. Finally, turn the tides. Challenge the “safeplayers.” I have found some key questions often expose the “safeplayers” and can force them to at least consider change. The questions are: - “Does anyone know why we do it this way in the first place and if so, does it still make sense given our current situation?”
- “There has to be more than one way of looking at this problem, are there at least two additional approaches we can consider?”
- “What is the worst thing that could happen if we don’t change/do change?”
Give this a shot and let me know how it goes.
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