82
Like I said, as a leader you have to be positive and energetic to motivate an individual to be on the same platform where you are. You don’t force it on anybody, but you have to be in a place where you are leading and show people where you are moving towards and getting the best result in terms of change.
Respondent G:
Motivation is a short-term thing….You can’t motivate people, you have to inspire people it’s something that has to come from the inside. And the way that you inspire people is to give them the opportunity to work out what I call ‘their strength and their natural capabilities’. The moment you allow that, and you set an environment where people can have that them you do not have to motivate them, they are inspired…
The respondent A,B,C and D largely agree and shared a similar view about how employees can be motivated, but respondent E,F,G shared a different viewpoint on the motivation of employees.
83
those are the people that are difficult to manage because you almost have to hold their hands and give them comfort and make them believe that their roles are secure.
Respondent B:
You always find resistance, and resistance can be someone that is so entrenched in doing business as usual that they will never change and that’s the fact of life. But resistance is a two-way street, resistance can be an indication that leadership did not compose the message or the strategy or the vision was not as clearly as possible. Or it is also a fact that you have to understand that a new vision or an adjusted vision you are never going to get a 100% percent on board, you have to expect some fall-out, some differences etc.
and also human nature, but you got to understand what is the driving force behind the resistance. We need more younger people for change because by definition, the more you get older, more you become comfortable with the comfort zone and the drive for change might get smaller……
Respondent C:
Of course, people don’t always buy-in, its normal and one has to deal with that. To overcome resistance and motivate the employees to change, we make everybody part of it and that’s how we deal with resistance and we find that as the best way as to whether its resistance or differences. If you are part of the discussion everybody works towards the solution, but if you exclude employees and management takes the decisions you know on their own, and then just give it to the employees to implement, in that environment you may get more resistance. So, we just have to find a way to make all staff part of the process. You typically have a personality where people do have a kind of internal resistance to change because it’s a threat to them and on the other hand you have people who thrive for change. So, management must have a very good understanding of the personality profiles of various employees and how they will typically react to change and if you have very good understanding of the personality profile of people, you can help them to management to deal with change.
Respondent D:
84
There is always resistance to change, always, it’s a biological thing people don’t like change and they don’t like being disrupted and people will only go with change if they benefit thereof; that is my understanding of it.
Respondent F:
Resistance to change is unavoidable, but having a competent leader who understands people’s emotions, what do you do, you communicate about their possible fears, about their anxieties, regarding the change. You walk through with them regarding the change process, you walk through a transition with them where its clear and you clear the transition. So, you have to make yourself actually accessible and approachable so that your employees are able to discuss any reservations that they have. If they have ideas you have to welcome them. And also about their thoughts you have to be approachable to avoid the resistance, to manage what they fear.
Respondent G:
That’s an easy answer, I am sure that you know the answer, people struggle to change, they do not want to change. It goes with a lot of pain and people do not want to do it that’s just a human nature. You are used to something and you finish successful and the question is always, why should I change. It’s a challenge and from my experience as a consultant I mean, that’s what I do when I go to organisations, we should change some of the staff. It’s difficult, very small percentage of the people in any organisation are open to embrace change. What you need to do to overcome resistance as management, it’s all about the communication. When you start to communicate the stuff to people and give them all the information why you are going to do it and what is the best benefit for anyone in doing this. Then they will start to see the light and it becomes a little bit easier to get to that point where they are going to change. But it takes time, it’s not a short-term solution, you can’t do it in two weeks, it takes time. But it’s very important to communicate why you want to do it, what is the benefit of doing that.
Respondent A,B,C,D,E,F and G to a greater extent shared the same view about resistance to change
85