What People Want When They Say They Want Change

Most of the people I meet want change. They want it bad. They want to see change in their personal life, their family, their church, and their community.

So if people want change why are they so resistant to it?

The problem is that they only want the second half of change. They want the benefit, the better outcome, the improved results. What they often don't want is to change what they are doing to get those results.

Simply put - when people say they want change they mean they want a noticeably improved outcome towards their pre-existing goals with no discernible change in the process used to get there.

When ascertaining if people are truly ready for change don't just ask if they want better results. Ask them what those better results are and how much they are willing to change the process to bring about those outcomes. Here are some questions you can ask to help get to the bottom of the issue: 

• Do you/we want more of what we are already experiencing or something altogether different?

• Is our motivation to change based on making the current reality sustainable or on significantly altering our reality?

• If one year from now you could be regularly experiencing the desired outcomes but your life/organization would be virtually unrecognizable from what it is now would you still want to make those changes change?