Maintaining Status Quo Would Stall Y2K Progress

Think about all that has happened since Y1K. Or imagine life even a century ago.

Significant changes have occurred.

And we are fortunate that many people have been open to those changes. Even more important, we’re lucky there were people with conviction who were able to overcome objections to innovation. Because clearly, there were people who resisted change 1,000 and 100 years ago, just as there are people who do so now.

Imagine how our lives would be different today--in medicine, in transportation, in communications, in housing--if the naysayers had been allowed to prevail.

Change is good. Change is necessary. Change is an increasingly significant factor in our lives. And trying to maintain the status quo will inevitably lead to obsolescence.

As we move into the new millennium, let us resolve to be open to change, to have a positive attitude toward change, to embrace rather than fear it.

We, as others have in the past, are faced with a timeless decision. Either we seek to grow or we make the decision to fall behind.

Yet despite this awareness, resistance to change is not uncommon. For example, do you know someone whose first reaction to a proposed new idea or new experience is “no”?

Or have you observed anyone who frequently calls new ideas interesting, then follows with the dreaded “but” and a series of reasons for not pursuing them? We all have had these experiences, usually more than once.

One reason for the resistance to change is the reality that change is hard work. It takes a lot more energy and commitment to make changes than to keep things the same. And given the sustained pressures at work and home, we seek comfort and avoid additional work when we can. Yet unless we seek change, in improving our organizations, personal skills or attitudes, the comfort we find in the status quo is, at best, temporary.

We need to avoid the seemingly attractive trap of complacency.

People also resist change because change is scary. Yet by trying to conserve the status quo and avoid the unknown, our opportunities diminish and our world gets smaller. Learning, improving skills and growing are all examples of change that enlarge our world. Through change, not only are we better able to achieve our potential, but we also expand our potential in the process.

And a world of diminishing opportunities is a lot scarier than embracing a world of change.

Another reason for resistance to change is a misconception that by doing nothing, we can maintain the status quo. But for this to work, the world must be static. It assumes that the world around us is not changing. Yet we know the world is changing, and at an ever-increasing pace. Whether the change comes from technology, global competition, ethnicity or demographics, the environment in which we live is continuously reshaped.

This misconception of doing nothing so we might maintain the status quo manifests itself in the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Do we wait until something is broken before we try to fix it? Do we only try something new when we have problems, or worse yet, are failing? Absolutely not. We need to innovate. We need to seize new opportunities. We need to be open to change and not fear it.

Clearly, change allows us to develop. It is progress. It is striving toward achieving our potential. And we know the world around us is not standing still.

Let’s not be content with the status quo. We need to embrace change, encourage innovation. This is not just a New Year’s resolution. It is a millennium resolution, a fundamental view of life that opens the door of opportunity for our organizations, careers and lives.

Let’s break loose from the chains of complacency and organizational inertia. Let’s strive to achieve our potential. Let’s view change as good and experience a larger rather than a smaller world.

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Gary Izumo is a professor in the Moorpark College Business Department and has managed his own consulting practice. He is a former McKinsey & Co. consultant and Practice Leader for the Strategic Management Consulting Practice of Price Waterhouse. You can e-mail him at gizumo@vcccd.cc.ca.us.