The Joy of Repetition

Once people have had that initial insight or epiphany that change is necessary, they need to repeat the experience in order to reinforce it and to experience the potential pleasure that can be derived from it. The complex brain connections that are formed during the epiphany phase need to be supported to begin the process of hard-wiring the basal ganglia. Indeed, when Wisconsin's Miszewski has been successful in getting agencies to accept change - server consolidation and centralization, for example - it has been because of highly repetitive lobbying. "That's why politicians repeat the same message 10 times," he explains.

"The epiphany is the catalyst and stimulus, but it's not the whole deal," says Michael Wakefield, senior enterprise associate at the Centre for Creative Leadership, a consultancy. "You have pathways in place, and they're simply too strong to be changed in a single moment. You need to be able to integrate it into the psychological behaviour for it to become part of a new pattern." Rock says reminding people of their insights and continually asking them about the actions they decided to take as a result will help the process along. If they haven't taken any action, ask them when they plan to.

It's also important to know that there are always going to be people who are simply incapable of changing their behaviour in a particular situation for reasons that are too complex and personal for CIOs to resolve. CIOs are not psychotherapists, and they don't need to be. Change experts and CIOs offer a remarkably consistent picture of the types of reaction to change and the percentages of people who fall into each category. Roughly 20 percent to 30 percent of employees are change gluttons - often ambitious, they see change as a path to happiness and success. Another 20 percent to 30 percent cannot view change as anything other than a threat to their jobs (and they may be right) and will resist at all costs. Finally, about 50 percent to 70 percent are sceptics - they may see some logic in the case for change but aren't convinced it will benefit them personally. "It's the 50 to 70 percent you need to focus on," says Rock.

Not Your Motivation, Theirs

One of the biggest mistakes leaders like CIOs make in trying to win over the sceptical middle is assuming that everyone is motivated by ambition - as many CIOs are. But many people, especially IT professionals, are motivated as much or more by the work they do (the craft of software development, for example) as they are by the opportunity to move up in the hierarchy. "There are a lot of people who don't want to be king or queen," says Wakefield. "That's difficult for people to reveal because they fear their bosses will start to question their courage and commitment." If these people don't see an opportunity to maintain their allegiance to the work they love as part of a change, they won't see the benefit of going along. They will remain sceptical or, worse, move into the camp of active resisters.

One of the best ways to bring the sceptics around is through learning. At the New York State Workers' Compensation Board, a change readiness survey of employees at the beginning of an effort to shift compensation cases from paper folders to electronic files found that employees' number-one demand was for training. "They wanted reassurance that we weren't going to ask them to do something new without giving them the support they needed to do it," says Nancy Mulholland, who is deputy executive director and CIO of the board.