The late British novelist Arnold Bennett penned, “Any change,even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawback anddiscomfort.” I can only imagine what he'd say now, given society'sincredible pace of change. Despite the drawbacks and discomforts,change is good and a culture that embraces this motto can gofurther and faster than one that does not.

It's important for me to qualify my remarks by noting thatchange for the sake of change is not particularly good. Forexample, I have seen many IT executives make changes for the sakeof their own legacy, or to simply look like they're doing somethingimportant. That type of change usually leads to failure becausechange requires perseverance, and people have a hard time rallyingbehind (and staying focused on) an effort with ambiguous benefits.Similarly, efforts that don't tie directly to business goals andthe company's mission tend to fail because people (especially CEOs)want to work towards something tangible.

As Bennett noted, change has both drawbacks and discomfort.While volumes of work exist on the psychology of change, mostpeople can relate to a simple truth: some people love it, and somepeople don't. People tend to exhibit consistent characteristics andpersonalities, which I categorize (from a non-psychological view)thusly:

1. Change Seekers – this type is constantlylooking for change. They're an ally except when they get impatientor bored. Since they want change, adoption happens for them veryquickly, but since they crave change, they create it even when it'snot necessary.
2. Change Embracers – the positive types that seemost change as a good thing and help facilitate change.
3. Pessimists – this type challenges change butin the face of clear benefit(s), has no problem embracing it. Theyjust don't embrace change by default.
4. The Wall – they resist change for the sake ofresisting change. They sometimes quit rather than change.

Understanding these types of personalities can help you workwith them to facilitate change. For example, the change seekermakes for a great beta tester, the embracer is good forconstructive criticism, the pessimist is good to bounce ideas offof, and the wall…well, the wall is the wall.

More importantly, adopting your style to the type of changepersonality you're dealing with yields less stress and resistanceduring change, which in turn leads to better adoption andsuccess.

Related:The Agile Approach

I once led a collaboration project and didn't consider others'perception of change. Since I tried to apply the change with abroad brush, most people (i.e., everyone except the type of peoplewho are like me) didn't understand the change and refused to acceptit. The result? I wasted six months re-doing the change, cateringmessages, and training to the change personality types.

Technology makes this problem worse because non-technical peopleare not nearly as excited about new technology as their ITcounterparts. With this chasm comes a need for a different approachto change that focuses on two core principles:

1. Respect the fact that users may not care about the new shinyobject.
2. All change affects work lives, so treat it as if you'repainting their living room – and tread carefully.

To handle the first situation, emphasize the business benefit ofthe change, not the coolness factor. Remember, they don't careabout cool; they're wondering how to do their jobs better. Thebenefits are twofold: first, users will respond to the businesscontext because they care about it (resulting in better adoption).Second, you get to be certain you actually solved a problem usersare having.

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The second situation requires careful planning, includingpre-announcements, formal education, and grass-roots campaigning toprepare and continue the dialog for users. Change, no matterhow seemingly trivial, affects work lives and therefore cannot betaken for granted. Be respectful of those work lives.

Another factor – especially now – is the generational elementsaffecting users' mental models for change. Change used to bemeasured in 18-24 month windows (i.e., major changes took that longto happen – see Microsoft Windows). Thus, more experiencedgenerations deal with change more slowly.

Now, change happens almost daily, meaning younger people tend tosee change as implicitly normal. Neither mental model is wrong; infact, it's a mistake to think either is wrong. For those whostruggle with rapid change, ease into it. Don't introduce rapid change;introduce gradual change at first, shortening the window of changeover time. Eventually, change is embraced more easily. For thosewho like change more frequently, be sure to follow their reactionscarefully. Not resisting is different than consent.

There are certainly more elements to change (e.g., formalizedchange management), but these core ideas help to guide the rest. Ifyou consider all the human factors of change, you can create alevel of engagement that ultimately makes projects moresuccessful.

Regardless of the nature of change, the personality types, orthe generations involved, there is one inexorable truth about it:“We change, whether we like it or not.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson.)

And change is good.

Special thanks to David Stamatis and Lauren Gadoua for theircontributions to this post.