Why Won't They Change?

As Managers of Volunteer Resources, Executive Directors and other leaders of volunteer programs in nonprofit organizations, you are dealing with one constant: CHANGE. To stay current with trends in the volunteerism field, technology advances, new management systems, etc., you are challenged to lead organizations in new directions and with methodology to engage volunteers to have the most impact. But, too often your desire to promote a change is met with subtle or not-so-subtle signs of resistance. As you suggest changes you might hear these and other laments from staff and volunteers:

So, how do we encourage a readiness for change and a motivation to implement and sustain it?

Change theory is the subject matter of hundreds of books and thousands of articles. It is not the intent of this training exercise to trivialize change or make it appear as something that can be resolved by simply filling in the blanks of a formula. Rather this training design features a tool which can be useful as a separate coaching guide or as an exercise in a more in-depth training session dealing with the complexity of change.