During a change initiative how often do you hear someting like, “We really want people to feel like they’re involved and included in the change process.” I’m going on record as not wanting people to feel like they’re part of the change process.

Feeling included vs. being included

I don’t want people to “feel like” they are actively involved and included in a change. I want them to actually be involved and included throughout the entire change process as much as possible and to feel and experience what that’s like.

When the goal is for people to feel like they’re involved and included, we will do things like consult them at certain times, gather information from them, communicate to them / give them status updates, and provide them ways to ask questions / provide feedback to us. The mindset here is, “People can’t be invovlved in all the decisions. That approach is impractical and inefficient. We do want them to feel like they’re involved and have input, but we are in charge of this change initiative and we need to keep it moving quickly.”

I don’t want people to “feel like” they are actively involved and included in a change. I want them to actually be involved and included.

When the goal is for people to actually be involved and included, there really isn’t a “we” and “them”. The people who will be responsible for carrying out the change and living with it day to day on the job long after the change team is on to the next project are involved right from the beginning and all throughout the initiative. The mindset here is, “People actually being involved makes for a better long term solution, creates buy-in and ownership, and saves time in the long term. While we understand it may not be feasible {or even beneficial} for people to be 100% involved in everything, we focus on maximizing involvement rather than why we can’t.”

Closing thoughts

I want to hear from you. Do you want people to feel like they are involved and included in the change process or to actually be? How have you seen each approach play out in your change work? What have been the pluses and minuses of each approach?

Please post your thoughts and comments below. Let’s help each other become the best change management practitioners and enthusiasts we can be!

Thank you for reading. Until next time, take care and keep up the good work!

Mike