The success of organizational change initiatives ranges from 30 to 35 percent. That means that 65 to 70 percent of all change fails! Why would any organization take on a project like that if the odds are that it’ll fail? Because they MUST. Industries, customers, technology, and marketplaces are changing more rapidly than at any other time in history.
WHY OH WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
There are no sure-fire, guaranteed methods that will lead to a successful organizational change. But there is one way that will almost certainly lead to its demise – leaving those impacted by the change out of creating the change itself. This leads to natural resistance.
Resistance to change is about perceived lack of control: people feel like the change is “being done to them” and they don’t have a say in it.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Involve all of those impacted by the change. A simple way to think about it is:
1. Make sure you find every constituency that might be impacted by the change – employees, customers, leaders, etc.
2. Involve all those constituencies in building the case for change.
3. Ensure that each constituency is a part of creating the solution.
4. Train key members of each constituency to implement and sustain the change.
Another key is to create wins and successes that people can see. According to Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, it is beneficial to create short-term wins to build on the change. Then, anchor the changes into the corporate culture with continuous efforts – like talking about progress at every chance and publicly recognizing key constituencies involved in the change.
There are many different methods to implement change/transformation successfully (Kotter, Proci, etc.). All of them are great. However, no organization can transform successfully without involving those impacted by the change. Trying to force change will result in the culture rising up and crushing it.
How have you seen those impacted by change involved in the change process?
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.
Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
