Changeitis

Changeitis is an innate resistance to change, regardless of the merits of the new situation. It is one of many Lean afflictions that hamper the full potential of continuous improvement efforts.

Some people get set in their ways and oppose change on general principle. These people might even complain about the status quo, but when it comes time to alter anything, they won’t do it.

Most people have a natural resistance to change. Humans are creatures of habit. It simplifies things, helps avoid mistakes, and makes things work more efficiently. Take Starbucks, for example. Many people go to the same store every time and order the same drink every visit. It takes away the risk of getting something they don’t like and makes the process easier because they are familiar with everything.

With Changeitis, people take that grasping onto the current way of doing things to an extreme.

A certain amount of resistance to change is to be expected. Even with a company that is well along the way on its continuous improvement journey, people won’t want to just change for the sake of change. They will need reasons to do it. With a culture of continuous improvement, though, people get used to change, and they become increasingly willing to alter processes and policies when they see a better way of doing things. Willingness to change is a learned behavior.

Changeitis is also a learned behavior. Resistance to change stays strong when leaders reinforce the push-back. If a vocal outcry is enough to prevent a new process, then people with Changeitis will recognize that and will always scream bloody murder when there is a change.

If reverting back to the old way is tolerated, then people with this affliction will let the change happen, and then slowly migrate back to the old way.

Logic will not work on people with Changeitis. They might agree with every point of data that says the new way will be better. But in the end, emotion will trump facts and data.

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