You believe in change. You know change is the way to succeed. Everyone on your team says the same thing. So why are you still using the same processes that were developed in 2012? 

You're suffering from change resistance. There are symptoms, of course, but they seem to be difficult to spot in yourself. Fortunately, Tom Haak, founder and director of the HR Trend Institute, put together a game of Change Resistance Bingo. 

Here's how you play. Take the following phrases and arrange them on bingo sheets. Every time a phrase is uttered in a meeting, mark it off:

  1. We need clear roles and responsibilities
  2. The culture needs to change
  3. Let's wait until [name] is back
  4. What are other organizations doing?
  5. We need more data
  6. Let's conduct a survey
  7. We tried this in [insert year]
  8. Our CEO will not like this
  9. Change needs to start at the top
  10. We all need to be aligned
  11. We need a solid plan
  12. The timeline is too aggressive
  13. I am in favor, but ...
  14. The strategy is unclear to me
  15. We need clear roles and responsibilities
  16. We need a broad committee
  17. This is too big for us
  18. [Name of big strategy consultant] should help us
  19. It will only work if everybody participates
  20. Tomorrow is another day
  21. August is a very bad month [any month counts]
  22. We will plan a change management course
  23. HQ will have to coordinate
  24. It can be done faster

Haak points out that if you dislike the change, you can strategically say the phrases on your card and not only derail the project, but win the game.

While turning this into an actual Bingo probably wouldn't help your career, Haak's list should be printed up and brought to meetings. When you start hearing (or saying) these phrases, mark them off. 

It's possible that you're resisting this particular change because it's a bad change--those happen for sure--but it's also possible that you're just content to complain about how things are.

If you've been complaining about the status quo but still spout these phrases, it's time to take a deep breath and make some change, without conducting another survey.