Unfortunately, this is a common response to change. And it\u2019s not just the battle cry of the underperforming. It\u2019s often found in organizations with strong performance. That makes it worse because there\u2019s no impetus for change- at least not in the short run.<\/p>\n
As we all know, sometimes we need to find better ways to do things that have worked just fine in the past. The need may be a process improvement, a new way to leverage technology, a new product, etc\u2026 It could be a matter of being proactive. Or, we might already see performance declining. Maybe, there\u2019s a more efficient way to do it.<\/p>\n
If you find yourself in the driver\u2019s seat in these situations and you are met with resistance, I have two words of advice \u2013 zipper merge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Zipper merge?<\/em><\/strong> You may not be acquainted with the concept. It has to do with the flow of highway traffic as lanes are reduced. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve been in the situation where \u2018that inconsiderate jerk\u2019 drives past the crawling line of cars and moves into the ongoing lane just before his lane disappears.<\/p>\n That jerk was actually helping the overall flow. In fact, if everyone zipper merged (i.e. brought two lanes together right before the lanes reduced), the overall length of traffic backup would be reduced by 40 percent<\/strong>. Studies show that it is also a safer approach than the long line of stop and go traffic.<\/p>\n The zipper merge is a useful analogy for \u2018pushing\u2019 improvements in an environment resistant to change. You essentially have three options.<\/p>\n The first is to \u2018line-up\u2019 – keep the status quo by getting in the back of the line, where you will become aggravated because of the long wait. You won\u2019t ruffle any feathers, but you will arrive late to your destination and may miss an opportunity.<\/p>\n The second is to go part way up the line of traffic and cut in front of someone who leaves a gap big enough for you to squeeze in. Maybe you even wave to make them feel better about \u2018letting you in\u2019. This is like implementing a partial improvement that makes your life easier but doesn\u2019t help the overall performance of the organization.<\/p>\n The third is to zipper merge. Being a \u2018side-zoomer\u2019 may result in others giving you the stink-eye. Maybe a few honks. Or, if you\u2019re lucky enough, the coveted single-finger salute. While the zipper merge may be understood by a small percentage of people, it is actually the best<\/em> approach for the entire<\/em> system.<\/p>\n By using the zipper merge approach, you will optimize helping people in ways they may not realize. Others may not understand it and certainly will never track you down to thank you. After all, even if they understand that your approach is better for the system, they may not perceive it to be better for them.<\/p>\n But you do have another option. If you want to make sure you don\u2019t ruffle any feathers, then take your place at the back of the long line. You may be late, but what the heck, so will everyone else! How bad could it be? After all, that\u2019s the way we\u2019ve always done it.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a traffic situation, the ‘Zipper Merge’ has been proven to be safer and reduce the overall problem by up to 40%. The zipper merge is a useful analogy for \u2018pushing\u2019 improvements in an environment resistant to change. Learn more about your 3 options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,9],"tags":[55,14,57,56],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744,"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"business](\"http:\/\/thepeopleadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/traffic-with-border.jpg\")
<\/a>Option 1 \u2013 Keep the Status Quo<\/h3>\nOption 2 \u2013 Make a Safe Improvement<\/h3>\n
Option 3 \u2013 Take the Risk<\/h3>\n
Approaching improvements in a zipper merge fashion looks like this:<\/h4>\n
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