Organizational change: How transformational leadership makes it work

From PLN

Organizational change: How transformational leadership makes it work

by Leslie Dillon, from Leader's Digest May 2007

According to Price Waterhouse Coopers' publication Herding Cats: Human Change Management, about 75% of all organizational change initiatives fail. While most organizations say people are their most important assets, few act this way. Change projects usually devote most of their resources to technology and processes, but not staff. "Yet offering the right incentives to link corporate goals to individual career objectives is a critical success factor."

We all know people react differently to change, but did you know that they can be grouped into four broad categories?

Originators: welcome dramatic change
Conservers: prefer gradual change
Pragmatists: prefer change that will address current problems
Resisters: dislike all change

All of these types are necessary in a successful organization. Different people learn differently. So motivation and training should be more individualized. The standard practice, "taking employees off-site for intensive training," won't work. These courses try "to impart all the knowledge needed to all staff in one fell swoop, with little attempt to tailor it to a specific individual's job or learning style."

Hewlett Packard Education Services offers some guidelines for developing an effective organizational change plan.

Set clear goals. Most organizations are not clear enough defining their goals and objectives.
Assess your culture and your “change absorption” capacity. There are different types of change; gradual, radical, reactive, proactive and others.
Identify and confirm where the drive or demand for change is coming from.
Identify the gaps between your organizational goals and where you are today.
Develop a change plan that is clear and allows organizations and individuals to understand where they fit.
Establish metrics and incentives aligned with key success factors.
Clarify and communicate your plan.

Finally, be sure you can answer two key questions you'll get from staff:

What does this mean to me?
Why are you telling me this now?

For further reading, see Why People Matter by Jenny Dugmore and Shirley Lacy, published by BSI (UK).

(Mark J. Dawson and Mark L. Jones, Herding Cats: Human Change Management; Hewlett Packard Education Services, HPES ME - Herding Cats – Organizational Change Management)

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