Nearly everyone sets goals. Many people set goals at the beginning of a new year. These New Year’s resolutions are notoriously short-lived. By the end of January these goals are often abandoned or forgotten. Why is it that few people seem to be able to stick to their New Year’s resolutions and even fewer manage to make dramatic, lasting changes?
The answer has to do with the difficulty of changing. Goals inevitably involve making changes – either in our thinking or behavior. Whether it is our eating habits, exercise habits (or lack thereof), time-management, or organizational skills; it is difficult to change well-established habits. Once we become accustomed to thinking or behaving in a certain way, it becomes automatic. We no longer have to engage in cognitive effort to perform the behavior. Changing a habit however, takes a great deal of cognitive effort, especially at first. We must think about the behavior we want to change and how we will go about it.
The same is true in organizations. If change is difficult for an individual, think about how difficult it is for a company to make changes. Organizations are made up of many individuals and when a company tries to implement changes on a macro level, the individuals within that company may resist. But change is a necessary part of survival in today’s dynamic environment and when a company commits to making positive changes the rewards can be great.