The Change Management Wisdom Of Casey Stengell

The Change Management Wisdom Of Casey Stengell

Casey Stengell, the former great manager of the New York Yankees, once summed up at least part of his baseball philosophy by saying "the key to managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided." It's tough when you have to divide your world into those two particular groups and that may well be part of the secret to successfully managing a major league baseball team; the fact is, however, Casey's wisdom applies equally well to managing any business situation that involves change.

Anyone who doesn't know that changing something in a business is a difficult, gut-wrenching process simply hasn't been through it. It's difficult because it takes everyone involved out of their comfort zone - that way of doing things that makes it "easy" to get the same, comfortable results that have always been achieved. Let's face it; we become used to doing things in a certain way and, when that way works for us personally, we don't want anyone else rocking our boat.

Think about the human dynamics of change - visualize how things might work in your own small business, if you were to pull the trigger on some course of action that changed the way your business does things forever. How would your employees or any other stakeholders in the process react? You know that some people would like the change, some people wouldn't, and some would be undecided about it. While the percentage distribution of those three groups will certainly vary with different situations, a good rule of thumb is that about a quarter of the people will be with you, another quarter will be opposed, and the rest will be sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how things work out.

Now, which of these three groups do you suppose will be the most vocal? You know where the noise is going to come from - from those that are opposed. They may tell you to your face why the change you are initiating is horrible, or they may promote their own little insurgency behind your back; but they will vocally oppose the change you are trying to implement. They probably perceive that they have a vested interest in having the change effort fail and they will do what they think they have to do to make that happen.

Where do you suppose those that are opposed to the change will direct their attention? Here’s where Casey shows us the most wisdom - they will most likely focus on the undecided. These are the individuals that are most receptive to input. These are the individuals who are looking for "answers." And these are the individuals that make the best, most receptive audience for the nay-sayers.

Here's the big mistake that many change agents make - they respond to that group of loud (sometimes obnoxious) complainers that are talking things down. It's natural, I suppose; when you're responsible for making something happen you want to take your best shot at convincing people that the outcome is worthwhile. So, what better place to start than to walk into the lion's den and just win over those few people that are most opposed to the change. If something, or someone is preventing you from accomplishing your change objective, meet the challenge head on and win them over.

Big mistake - just ask Casey! Spend your time lobbying with the undecided, instead of wasting it trying to convince people who most of the time can't be convinced anyway. Help those who are truly struggling with the decisions and who are trying to figure things out. Work with this group and show them why the change is necessary and how they can benefit from it.

Real change involves taking risks. If you're like most of humanity, you put change off until every excuse, comfortable alternative, and available resource has already been exhausted. Real change, though, also has a real impact on the people around you. There will always be a few people who will never get it. They will struggle with change and fight it as long as they can; and in the end they may have to go. When you're going through any difficult change process, spend your time and energy where it can be most effective. Everyone deserves a fair chance to try to deal with a changing environment, but, if you're the one leading that change, recognize that you have the best chance of succeeding by keeping the support of those that are in favor of it and keeping "the guys who hate it away from the guys who are undecided."