Why Change is So Hard

I’ve been in the process of transitioning from working and living in Minnesota to Colorado. As a result, I have been traveling a little bit down memory lane as I unpack boxes and try to get rid of older items in jam packed bookcases and closet in my office to make way for new books and items from my more recent past. Yes, I am that person who saved my statistic and sociology books and class notes from my doctoral program, mementos from my time as a faculty member (survey research reports, published manuscripts and books, etc.) and as an administrator (presentations, conferences, etc.). It was surprisingly, excruciatingly difficult to put these documents in the recycle bin. As I held those materials, I got back in touch with those identities that shaped who I am today, and all the fond memories of that time and what a rich and rewarding time it was! But things have changed. Life has moved on.

But as I reflected on the angst I was feeling about the disposal of those artifacts, I realized that this is one aspect of why change is so hard, whether in our personal or professional lives, and whether those changes are large or small. “Change” is a change in how we view ourselves that makes changing something so difficult.

As our work changes and the world around us changes, (it's a tough reality for me to comprehend that no one wants hard copy books anymore!), we are reluctant to conceptually let go of those things and activities that previously defined us. The scientific research and lay articles about how difficult change is needs to bring into focus the root emotional causes of our allergic and subconscious reaction to change. When we ask people to change, we are asking them not to just change their behaviors, we are also inadvertently asking them to give up deeply held beliefs about their identities linked to those behaviors. When this identity is challenged, people will react adamantly against any notion of change because it is threatening to those deeply held identities. I know it’s easy, for example, to blame faculty who refuse to teach online as being simply against anything administrators ask them to do. But when I talk to faculty about this, a shift to teaching online is a shift in their identity and deeply held belief of the identity associated with being a faculty member. Helping faculty work through perceived threats to their professorial identity as we ask them to change is vitally important if higher education is going to evolve. The same concept is true for every sector or industry.

As I move into my new roles in the coming year, my previous roles as faculty member, dean, provost, and president are not going away, even if the artifacts surrounding those roles and identities goes away. I am at peace with the knowledge that those experiences and identities will always be with me and that yes, I can have new roles and keep the vestiges of those previous identities, alongside the new identities brought on by change in my life.

If you are a leader trying to implement change (organizational or employee based), be honest and authentic about what you're asking people to recalculate about their identities when you ask them to change. Then have that conversation with them and be curious about and listen to how they see that change causing a shift or threat to their identity and work through that with them.

Now back to unpacking those boxes!