For decades, I have use the quote, “Nobody ever washes a rental car!” when presenting ahout issues of implementation of innovation and change. It is just a reality.

An interesting detailed post by Manal Sayid in LinkedIn got me thinking again about issues of implementation and ownership and similar. She explained her perceptions of reality when it comes to executives and their involvement with change. To her post, I added these ideas and the image:

“Nice! And I just made up this image to frame the issues around the danger of people who work to make improvements.

“A Desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world” shows the issues of common workplace Square Wheels® followed up by a senior manager coming up with the idea that Triangular Wheels will be better because:

• They are less costly to construct than Square Wheels®
• The cost of human capital, and
• There will be one less bump per revolution

We need improvement ideas from the people who are involved with pushing the wagon, because even the wagon puller may be unclear as to the reality of the hands-on approach to getting things done. This is simply Reality!!!”

ANOTHER reality is that, “Nobody ever washes a Rental Car,” and that people WILL resist things done TO them and react much better when they are involved and “WITH” the issues of change. Active ownership involvement is a key to any change management initiative.

We want “push” but not “push back” when working to implement workplace improvements, right?

All of these issues, and more, occur when managements try to push change into their workplaces. It is never easy and the active involvement of the players is a key to success. It is about working bottoms-up and not driving from the top down.

Let me end with a simple thought from the poem “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot that explains some additional reality around implementation and the need for active involvement and intrinsic motivation:

Between the idea and the reality,
Between the motion and the act,
Falls the Shadow.

Have fun out there and DO pay attention to all those shadows involved in generating change and improvement and impacting engagement and involvement,

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