change management process change management plan
Not long ago, I was talking to an individual about alternative energy, renewables, and the need for cheap and reliable energy sources. She seemed to be one with the global warming religion, and wanted to change everything into solar and wind power. She even had a scheme which would shut down the hydro-electric plants when the wind wasn't blowing, or during the daytime when there was solar power to counteract the reality that those other energy sources are not reliable, and far too costly.
It was her belief that even though wind power and solar power cost too much to prove profitable from a return on investment standpoint, the fact that hydropower was quite cheap could balance out the difference. Therefore, it should be able to compete with coal-fired plants to generate our energy. That was an interesting concept, but I wasn't buying it for a minute. "For what reason," I asked, "we have plenty of natural gas, and right now it is cheap, and it is much cheaper than coa l fired plants anyway." She then accused me of being afraid of change and stated;
"What is the Matter - Are You Afraid of Change?"
Now then, obviously I'm not afraid of change, because I happen to run a think tank which operates online, but I found it fascinating that she was willing to use that rhetorical and somewhat juvenile debating point with me. After all, I was squeezing her on the viability of her concept, all I wanted to do was have her answer the question, and show me mathematically and on paper how her scheme made sense at all. You see, we could just as easily use natural gas and hydropower, which is what we are doing now, and have cheaper and more reliable energy, and significantly cut down on CO2 and air-pollution.
So why mix alternative energy in the loop at all? Why, because it's new, because we need change, and because it would be better for the environment. Would it? Did you know it takes CO2 to create the concrete base of the wind turbine tower, and it takes the fifteen years to offset the same amount of CO2 which is put into the atmosphere during the construction phase and mixing of that concrete?
Okay so, an interesting book on innovation and change that I'd like to recommend is; "33 Reasons Organizations Resist Change," by Warren Bennis and James O'Toole.
You see, there are a lot of reasons why organizations resist change, but before we start that conversation, we need to be realistic with the type of change which is proposed. There is no sense in reinventing the wheel into a square, or a rectangle if that won't work. Are you beginning to see my point here? In fact, it sounds like a bumpy road to our alternative energy future to me if that's the case. Please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative eBook on Change Management Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.wo rldthinktank.net/