One of the challenges in Organizational Development is moving from identifying issues and developing solutions to actually effecting change. Individuals have enough of a challenge dealing with change. Convincing decision-makers to institute organization-wide change is sometimes akin to moving a mountain.

The following list of phrases that inhibit change came across my desk recently. As I went down the list, I
realized I heard more than half of these comments made over the years as I worked with groups. For fun, I
decided to spend a week listening to people in my programs to see how many-and how often-I heard  any of these statements. In a one-week time frame, I heard no fewer than fifteen of these statements directly
relating to areas of change being considered, and of those fifteen statements, six of them were made by at
least five different people multiple times. This is just in a week!

There is little chance that the field of Organizational Development will be rendered unnecessary anytime soon.

Phrases That Inhibit Change
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-       We tried that before.
-       We´re different.
-       We did just fine without it.
-       It's never been tried before.
-       That's not my job/not our problem.
-       Let's form a committee.
-       We don't have the time.
-       Not enough resources to make that happen.
-       That won't work for us.
-       The executive committee/top management will never go for it.
-       The staff will never buy it.
-       It can't be done.
-       The union will scream.
-       It's too much trouble.
-       It won't pay for itself.
-       We don't have the authority.
-       Let's get back to reality.
-       I know a person who tried it (and it didn´t work).
-       We've always done it this way.
-       You're right, but...
-       Don't rock the boat.
-       We're not ready for that.
-       Can't teach an old dog new tricks.
-       Good idea, but impractical.
-       Not that again.
Sylvia