The People Barrier

By Linda King, G2G3

A recent survey from the Industry Analyst group Forrester looked at barriers to change when implementing ITIL. European organizations who had undergone an ITIL implementation were asked what barriers or negative elements, if any, did they encounter during an ITIL implementation/upgrade process. The results were surprising - it was not the more ‘expected’ barriers to change that were most prevalent. Among these organizations who were implementing ITIL, internal resistance to change occurred in more than half - and in nearly a third, the business and internal customers were simply not prepared to be involved in the new process. These people and cultural elements overwhelmed all other barriers to change including financial and resource by at least a factor of 6, showing that the most significant barrier to successful cultural change is undoubtedly people. 

People are complex beings - it’s not enough to just tell them what to do, and traditional training just doesn’t cut the mustard any more. People need to really understand the ‘whys’ and ‘what fors’ - or even better, ‘experience’ the change first hand in order to really embrace the positive benefits it can bring. Otherwise, change will be resisted, rejected and left out in the cold.