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January-February 2010 |
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Why Do You Resist Change?
You are part of a six-person crew responding on the first-out engine to a reported house fire. As you ride on the engine, you receive updates from the dispatcher. The initial caller reported smoke from a lower level window in a two-story house. From the front seat, your officer instructs you to pull a 1¾-inch line on arrival. In your mind you go through the steps you’re going to take when you arrive.
And no sooner are you done forming those mental images when the dispatcher advises the officer that a second caller has now reported seeing flames from an upstairs bedroom and there may be people trapped on the second floor. From the officer’s seat comes a new set of orders. The crews are going to be split. Three firefighters pull the attack line. Three firefighters go to the second floor and conduct a primary search. As the reports changed, so did the game plan. And you were right on-board without a second thought.
Hey. HEY! Wake up! The scene in the first two paragraphs was just a daydream. Come back to reality. You’re not on the engine responding to a house fire. You’re actually arriving at the station for a meeting. And as you walk through the door into the truck bay, you cannot believe your eyes! Someone’s moved the engine! What?!?! That’s right. The engine, which is usually in the first bay, is now in the second bay; and the utility truck, which is usually in the second bay is now in the first. You start breathing hard. You feel your blood pressure rising. Your face is getting red. You are nearing the point of being overcome with anger.
Is this an over dramatization? Not at all. I have heard over and over again stories from fire chiefs about firefighters overreacting to the most insignificant changes (or what appear to be insignificant changes) that take place in the firehouse. Some, I’m told, have even resulted in fist fights. So how is it that we can be so resilient to the changing conditions at the scenes of emergency calls, yet we can be so resistant to minor changes that occur in the firehouse? It hardly makes sense.
We can take the mystery out of how an individual can respond so differently to very similar circumstances (changing environmental conditions) with just one word. Control.
Let’s use a fire as an example. As we are responding, and when we first arrive on the scene, we size things up. We are, for the most part, not in control of what is happening. The fire is in control. And we don’t like that one bit. We are action-oriented. It is not in our genetic make-up to sit back and let a fire burn without a fight. So we attack! We launch an assault to neutralize the enemy (the fire).
We take control! And when we’ve beat down the flames, we feel good. We slap backs, give high-fives and we grunt. (It’s a primal response dating back to when the cave men celebrated victory over Jurassic foes.)
Ok… back to the firehouse. We walk into the station, and we size things up. The trucks aren’t where they’re supposed to be! Again we are, for the most part, not in control of what’s happening here. Someone else is in control. Someone moved the fire truck without our input. And we don’t like that one bit! We are action-oriented. It is not in our genetic make-up to sit back and let someone change something we don’t like without a fight. So we attack! We launch an assault to neutralize the enemy (the person who made this absurd change). We take control! And when we’ve beat the person who made the change into a pulp, we feel good. We slap backs, give high-fives; and we grunt.
Feel like you just had a déjà vu experience when you read those last two paragraphs? In the psychology books, the response that people display when confronted with something that makes them scared is known as the “Fight or Flight Syndrome.” When faced with something that is a threat, a person will either stand up and fight…or run away (flight). Unfortunately for us fire chiefs, our departments are full of people who’d rather stand up and fight than run away. The good news is, those types of people make great firefighters. The bad news is, they can beat the snot out of us when we change something and they don’t like it.
Now, if your department doesn’t have problems like this, you’re doing things right. Congratulations! You can stop reading here go on to the next chapter. Or you can just read on out of morbid curiosity to see what the rest of us can learn about how to deal with those action-oriented change resisters.
There are a number of explanations for why people resist change. Here are some of the more popular reasons and some solution-oriented ideas (with a few offered tongue-in-cheek) for how to deal with them.
Self-interest: Yes, believe it or not, within our fire departments there are some people who put their own self-interest above the needs of the department or the needs of the community. I know… you’re shocked! The best way to deal with this type of change resistor is to keep them focused on the fire department’s mission statement. This person needs some regular reminders that the needs of the organization and the needs of the community come first. Chances are they knew this when they joined the department, but somewhere along the way got out of focus. “Service above self” would be a good motto for this person to adopt. The important thing is to get this person back in focus for why the department exists and the role they play. If needed, tape the mission statement in his locker, on the windshield of his car and on his coffee cup.
Anxiety: Some people get very uptight anytime there’s any change in their lives. When I think of these people, I envision the obsessive-compulsive behaviors of Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie As Good As It Gets. I know that everyone isn’t that bad off. So remember, if your worst change resistor isn’t as bad as Melvin Udall was in the movie, you have something to be thankful for already. These people need our attention. They need proverbial hand-holding. They need to have their fears eased. These people are truly amazing to watch. In a department meeting on a Monday night, we’ll announce a very minor change; and these people won’t sleep all night. And by morning we’ll have an e-mail waiting for us with 10 reasons why the change won’t work. If spending extra time with them doesn’t ease their concerns, try taping a Prozak ad in their locker.
Fear of failure: The human ego can be very powerful. In fact, in some, it’s overpowering. But it can also be very fragile. It’s almost an oxymoron to say that something can be so powerful, yet so fragile. But that’s how the ego is.
You know the type. In the process of introducing a change in your department, someone starts screaming at you, calling you names and threatening to tie your shorts on a knot (with you still in them). Believe it or not, what they’re really saying is “I’m afraid.” Afraid?!? Yes, afraid. They’re afraid they’re going to fail. But their ego won’t allow them to say that publicly. So, instead, they attack us. If we could get them alone and calmed down long enough to ask them what they’re afraid of — and if they don’t punch us in the nose for even asking — they might admit to us that they’re afraid of failure. They’re afraid they cannot learn the new stuff or they won’t be able to adapt to the new procedure.
For them, it’s not so much about knowing how to do it as it is not looking like a fool for not knowing how to do it. We can offer them some special one-on-one time to help them learn and master the new way of doing things. It can be good for their fragile ego to also have them help teach newer members things they know a lot about. Tape a picture of Gumby in his locker to remind him to be flexible.
Differences of opinion: If our department has 40 members, then we know one thing for sure. There are 40 opinions about how to do something. I’ve never met a firefighter who didn’t have an opinion on any topic being discussed (unless it’s a significant other asking for advice about how a certain outfit looks on them).
Having people with differing opinions and having them willing to share them is actually a good thing. It’s an indication of a healthy organization where members feel free to disagree (without being disagreeable). This can lead to healthy debates and help improve the quality of decisions being made. Unfortunately, some firefighters are pontificating, self-righteous, never wrong, hot-air balloons who want to argue for the sake of the argument.
These people are counterproductive and need to be dealt with. Invite them to meet with you after the meeting in your office or a private location. Explain to them the ground rules for a healthy debate and the expectations of professional behavior.
If needed, document the expected behavior; and give them a personal copy to refer to. If repeated attempts to correct the problem do not work, tape an application to a neighboring department in their locker.
Relationships with officers/supervisors: It’s certainly easer to adapt to change if we’re going through it with officers and supervisors we get along with. An understanding and sympathetic boss will help us when we feel the anxiety, anger and fear that are sure to accompany major change. If someone’s having a difficult time and we think it’s because of a supervisor or officer, try matching the person up with another officer or supervisor to serve as a mentor or confidant. Someone who’s miserable over change is more likely to confide in someone they trust and respect. This beats having them hold it in and then one day exploding into cosmic pieces because the stress of change got the best of them. For this person, tape the phone number of their mentor inside their locker with a note that says “call anytime.”
Status quo: Some people just want to be left alone. I like my life and my fire department. If you listen closely, you might hear them praying, “The way it is… is the way it was… is the way it will always be… and for that, I am grateful, Amen.” Before we criticize them, take a look in the mirror. We’re all, to some extent, creatures of habit and like some things left alone. It’s quite easy to accept a change when we are the creators of it. We have total control over this type of change.
It’s altogether different to accept change when it’s being heaped on us from someone else and we have no control over it. Even the most change resilient people have things in their lives that they like to be the same. Maybe it’s their morning routine getting ready for work. Maybe it’s stopping at the same place each morning to get coffee. Each of us secretly know the things we like and don’t want changed. Each of us can also recall a time when we were anxious, angry or fearful when something we’d become used to changed without our knowledge or approval. So, before we go out lookin’ for a tall oak tree to hang the person with status quo-itis, reflect on a time in our past when we faced an uncomfortable change and remember how it made us feel.
Let’s assume, for a moment, that the worst case of “status quo-itis” in our department isn’t a terminal case. In other words, he’s not still driving a 1971 Pinto, wearing 40-inch bell bottoms and listening to Sonny and Cher tapes in his 8-track player. If he is terminal, about the only thing we can do is buy him some fuzzy dice for the rear view mirror, get him a tie-died shirt to wear with his bells and hum “I got you, Babe” when he’s in the room. If he’s not terminal, we can appeal to his sense of reason, reminding him of all the things that have changed, both within and outside the fire department over the past 10 years. Hopefully that’s an easy list to assemble. Talk with him about how he coped and adjusted to each of those changes and how he overcame his anxiety, anger and fear. As a visual aid to remind him that change happens all the time and we can adapt, tape a picture of a 1971 Pinto in his locker. If he looks at it and says, “Those were the good ole days,” there’s hope for him. If he looks at it and says, “Hey! Who took this picture of my car?” you might need to remind him that 27 people died in fuel-tank fires during the 1970’s in Ford Pintos and suggest that it’s time he move on. Tape an ad for a 1986 Ford Taurus in his locker. Remember…baby steps.
Change is inevitable in our lives. We cannot escape it. Let us all resolve to be more understanding and patient of those who resist change. Equally, let us vow to continue our tenacity to change the things that improve the service we provide to our communities, regardless of the resistance we encounter.
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