I’m reading Ken Blanchard’s book, “Leading at a Higher Level” and one particular section really hit me.
In chapter 10, Blanchard talks about “Organizational Leadership” and why leading change is so important.
No organization is perfect and a leader must strive to continually move the organization in the right direction towards their vision. Sometimes that involves small changes and other times it involves drastic moves. In both cases the need to mange change effectively is a skill set every leader needs.
Here’s a list of 11 Predictable Reasons Why Change Efforts Typically Fail (again from Blanchard’s book).
1. People leading the change think that announcing the change is the same as implementing it.
2. People’s concerns with change are not surfaced or addressed.
3. Those being asked to change are not involved in planning the change.
4. There is no urgent or compelling reason to change. The business case is not communicated.
5. A compelling vision that excites people about the future has not been developed and communicated.
6. The change leadership team doesn’t include early adopters, resisters, or informal leaders.
7. The change isn’t piloted, so the organization doesn’t learn what’s needed to support the change.
8. Organizational systems and other initiatives aren’t aligned with the change.
9. Leaders lose focus or fail to prioritize, causing “death by 1,000 initiatives.”
10. People are not enabled or encouraged to build new skills.
11. Those leading the change aren’t credible—they under communicate, give mixed messages, and do not model the behaviors the change requires.
If you’re having problems implementing change in your organization, take a look at the list and determine the root cause. Maybe the way you manage change needs to change.
If you’d like some help executing on your change initiative, contact us. We’d be happy to help.
