There is insurmountable research about Change leadership and what works. Among the information out there, there is one study that found that 70% of change efforts fail. It’s not surprising that people in general are averse to change since it is uncomfortable and outcomes are unpredictable. Still, change must exist if we are to progress and evolve.
Put simply there are 3 key areas to watch out for if you want to succeed in moving a “Change” agenda forward.
- Communicate – sell the idea
- Leadership – it’s underrated
- Structure the transformation – this is important
Transformation pyramid
1. Communicate – sell the idea
“Dwell in possibilities” Emily Dickinson
The vision embodies and advances the company’s strategic agenda by supporting desired perceptions. Vision manifests itself in every key touch point of the project and becomes, therefore intrinsic to an organization’s culture – a constant reminder of its core values and its heritage. Ultimately, the vision message must resonate and be memorable enough to all team members, not just leaders. All team members must be able to articulate the vision cohesively. The sale is closed when all are able to recognize the goals inherently, feeling comfort, loyalty, and trust. It would then follow that performance metrics must be present in these endeavors.
2. Leadership – it’s underrated
Ideals that characterize successful transformations
Can I identify with this change effort? This is the question team members are asking themselves. Leadership must answer this question in order to help “Pave the Way”. Management at all levels must provide leadership that is relevant and inspires a sense of trust. Change agents require empowerment through out the organization. The empowerment will happen if the organizational structure supports it, in the form of an alternate project team of leaders from the CEO to line leaders.
3. Structure the transformation – this is important
John Kotter conducted a study of 100 organizations about change efforts. He concluded that there are eight stages in transformational projects aka TQM, reengineering, rightsizing, turn around restructuring, and cultural change, as follows:
1. Establish a Sense of Urgency
a. 50% of companies observed in Kotter’s study failed in this stage.
b. Having too many managers and not enough leaders can paralyze Senior Management in this process.
2. Form a powerful guiding coalition
a. Key line managers are pivotal at this stage.
3. Create a vision
a. Vision helps clarify the direction the organization is moving in.
4. Communicate the vision
a. Be a storyteller.
5. Empower others to act on the vision
6. Plan for and create short-term wins
a. The short-term wins are projects within this process that begin and end with specific milestones.
7. Consolidate improvements and produce more change
8. Institutionalize new approaches
a. Help people see the connections.
Of course, I have simplified quite a bit in this blog post and there's more to this topic than I have exposed here. I will write follow-up posts to this one. Keep change alive.
