April 2006 FAQ:

Question: What do I do with employees who just can’t handle change? It just seems to be too much for them … too much strain, too much pressure, too hard to figure out. Any solutions?

Answer:

Yep … here is a solution. Don’t buy it!

If an employee can

• get through a dozen or more years of education (in multiple schools)
• survive puberty
• learn to drive …
• fill out IRS tax forms as they change from year to year …

I guarantee you that they can handle change!

Offer each one a new Chevy Corvette with the latest “paddle shifter” and see if it’s too much to handle. Watch how they react when they move into a new house … with different room configurations, in a different part of town with different traffic patterns to get to work or the shopping mall. Watch how they handle an opportunity to try a new restaurant at lunch. Are these changes too much to handle?

If you need to steer your employees toward a new way of operating, and you are responding (or pro-acting) for legitimate business reasons, then move forward. Be respectfully insistent … and don’t take “poor overloaded me” as an answer.

If you have a question you would like to have addressed in the coming months, please give us your suggestions or comments on our guestbook.