The comfort zone is the most resilient enemy of transformation. Growth can only happen when an organization, and the people who are part of it, decide to weigh anchor, leave the safe shore, and sail away.
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Albert Einstein once said: "A ship is always safe at the shore, but it is not what it is built for". What he meant was that staying safe, in your comfort zone, will ... to say it plainly: not get you anywhere.
This insight is very useful when trying to understand the most resilient and silent enemy of a change in an organization. The "comfort zone". An organization and the people who are part of it may always be safe when docking at the shore, staying away from the storms and other surprises they may encounter when sailing, but this means they stay at the same place and never grow.
To implement change, you need a detailed travel plan, but also to convince the organization to weigh anchor and sail away. You may find out very quickly that the latter is a lot harder than the former.
You cannot overestimate the enormous force of gravity the comfort zone, old habits, and the power of inertia has over the organization and the people who are part of it.
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