While it’s common to hear “people don’t like change,” this statement doesn’t provide the whole story. The definition of change is to make different. A change can be better or it can be worse. Specifically, people don’t like changes that make things worse. People are receptive to changes which they anticipate to be improvements.
If your manager said “We’ve decided to double your salary,” you would probably be pleased. That would be a nice change. But if your manager said, “We’re going to cut your pay in half,” most people would be less than happy. That’s also a change. The word change doesn’t specify whether it will be better or worse.
Every action item within an organization is some type of change from the way things were done. When a root cause analysis is conducted each solution is a change. A solution defines some aspect of a work process that is going to be done differently. The change might be minor modification or a significant overhaul. Regardless of the magnitude of the change, people don’t want things to be worse. Tasks that are more complicated or confusing, that take longer or are deemed to be unnecessary are not improvements.
A thorough root cause analysis reveals the causes of a particular issue. Each of the causes can be solved in a variety of different ways – there is no right answer. The objective is to select the best combination of solutions to prevent the incident from occurring. Individuals and organizations ideally want solutions that are simple and effective. When we select solutions, we’re selecting specific changes to improve a work process. Getting input from the people connected to the work process, especially those who perform the steps, is important for ensuring the changes we make are actually improvements.
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