munishp

Change is a crucial concept in the corporate world. For management it can increase productivity, introduce skill sharing and even help teams simply move in the right direction. How change arrives or where it goes along any corporate roadmap, is dependent on organisation to organisation;however, the concept is simple. Move from the status quo to a better place.

Long serving employees can find change repetitive, boring and at times draining. They have seen it all before and therefore, they naturally resist new ideas and suggested improvements as much as possible:

• We don’t do things like that here

• That will never work

• Have you run this by senior management

• I have been here many years and management never learn

• That’s not part of my job specification

Whatever the reason for change or the excuse for not accepting it’s introduction, skepticism will always creep through the chain and cause obstacles.

The only thing worse than change is interim change. Management that make temporary tweaks cause uncertainty and confusion. Loyal and productive employees require nurturing and consistency, just like a child needs boundaries and routine. Employees want to be a part of the vision within any organisation and need to be made to feel as contributors towards change for the better, not catalysts for change. So when Rafael Benitez was introduced as interim Chelsea Manager, he never stood a chance.

Publicly introducing interim change into an organisation not only undermines the skills of those coming in to head up the transformation activities, it also highlights the lack of uncertainty within the organisation. Senior management wanted to fill a gap at Chelsea but gave no faith in him to set long term goals or hand over their vision.

Employees and supporters saw the interim change as an opportunity to highlight issues that need fixing and Raffa was just another short-term fix, forced on by senior management.