YOUR BUSINESS Bill Brinkley AP / IA / AME
GETTING THE BUY-IN
The only thing that is constant in the world of aviation is change. Change is usually dictated “from above” for any number of reasons. Sometimes it is a knee-jerk reaction to something that happened. Sometimes changes come because of changes in regulations or processes. Sometimes changes serve no purpose other than to “flex
the muscles” of some upper-level manager who dictated the change “just because he or she could” or to make themselves look better. I worked for one manager who was known throughout the company for this type of change. Unbeknownst to this manager, changes that originated from him were usually identified by the staff as either a “MGLG project” (Make Gary Look Good) or as a “WOMBAT Proj- ect” (Waste Of Money, Brains and Time). In any event, since anything is easy if you don’t have to
do it yourself, the implementation and enforcement of the change is typically left to lower-level managers and not to the person or persons who originated the change. The problem with implementing change is that people naturally resist change that they have no input into or control over. Sometimes this resistance is passive, and sometimes active.
In either case, this resistance has to be identified and dealt with in order for the change to succeed. The degree of resistance is not necessarily proportional to the magnitude of the change. Sometimes a huge change is easier to imple- ment than a smaller one.
HOW EMPLOYEES PERCEIVE CHANGE People are sensitive to the relative advantages and disad- vantages of any change from the status quo. Therefore a new, improved process, no matter how great it is on its own merit, must be perceived by the people affected by it as significantly better than what is currently in use – even if it
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isn’t. Without this perception, the change is resisted because human nature makes us think, “We have always done it this way, and it has always worked. Why change now?”
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? People are most interested in ‘What’s in it for me?” and this question needs to be addressed. People want to see an advantage to making a change, and seeing that advantage will help in obtaining their buy-in and compliance. If the change is going to make their job more difficult, there needs to be something positive to offset that, and they need to know what that is. You also need to keep in mind that different people have
different reference points. For example, a change that might be considered “no big deal” to aircraft mechanics might be a huge deal to the avionics techs. To get the buy-in from the avionics techs, there needs to be a clear benefit to offset their sacrifices.
HOW TO COMMUNICATE NEW CHANGES While it isn’t practical to have the entire organization involved in the development of a change, it is certainly pos- sible to make the dynamics of the change known, particu- larly to those who will be most impacted by it. In order to greatly improve the chances for obtaining buy-in, you should make a point to include the following in the an- nouncement of the change: • How the decision to change was made • Why it was made • What alternatives were considered • How it fits in with the organizational mission • How it impacts the organization • How it impacts employees
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