Change Acceptance: Busting Monkeys Out of Their Cages

When change comes around… are you busting out of your cage to ride the wave? Or are you being pried out, kicking and screaming, after the wave has passed?

Change — one of those inevitable, always there (for better or worse) forces in life. In our personal and professional lives, we are on both the receiving and driving end of change. Change acceptance is one aspect of it that we’ll dwell on a bit here.

In a professional setting, it is particularly useful to keep change acceptance in mind. If you are on the receiving end of change, it’s politically wise to avoid bucking the trend. Especially with workplace-wide objectives, don’t let your mental resistance become a limitation in your professional life. When you are the agent of change, it’s your job to keep an eye on change acceptance and adjust course accordingly.

Now onto our analogy! In every situation where change occurs, there are a few ways it is accepted, or not. In a session on Change Management, the instructor used the following analogy to hammer home the different levels of change acceptance. While seemingly obvious, it really struck a chord with me.

Breaking Monkeys Out

As it pertains to change acceptance, let’s consider monkeys living in a cage:

1. Some monkeys will find the cage door and break out on their own.
2. Some monkeys need the door opened for them. They will then wander out on their own.
3. Some monkeys need the door opened for them, some gesturing, some prodding, but eventually will wander out on their own.
4. Some monkeys need the door opened for them, to have their fingers pried off the bars, and to be dragged out kicking and screaming.

Folks in Group 1 are likely your early adopters. Group 2 and 3 fall somewhere in the middle. And Group 4 are the laggers, if they ever even get there.

While #4 sounds intense, this is usually an extremely small group. Much smaller than usually believed. Most monkeys fall into the “gesturing & prodding” group — they’re not incapable of accepting change, they just haven’t accepted it yet. You haven’t done your part to get them out.

Now if you find yourself in group 4 in a particular situation, stop and take a moment to think. Look around at everyone else who has accepted it. How are they doing? Is it wise to keep bucking the trend? You can voice your objection and make your stance known. In fact, I’d argue it’s important that you make your stance known, without being a jackass about it.

Change acceptance is one of those subtle things that sounds so obvious. Take some time to pay attention to our own internal acceptance, and the acceptance that those around us exhibit. It’s an eye opening exercise that requires little effort.