Leaders Must Be Explicit About Change

In my last post, The Top Ten Keys to Successful Change, I talked about how to make changes successful.  An interesting blog post by Margaret Heffernan in BNET raises an interesting question:  Do people even notice when change is happening?


While the video on change blindness (see below) may not appear to directly correlate to changes within an organization, my observation is that people do not necessarily realize that change is happening--even if they do recognize the personal impact.


As leaders, our job is to make sure that people don't just feel the effects of change.  It's critical to be explicit about change.  Be sure to communicate that change is happening--no matter how obvious that might seem (again, check out the video below).  That will enable people to prepare themselves mentally and emotionally.  Remember:  even change for the better can be difficult for people.

The Top 10 Keys to Successful Change

Change is difficult for people (both individually and as organizations)--even when it's change for the better.  In order to succeed and have longevity, a business must evolve.  That means that a company's employees must change.  After all, you don't want to work for the world's greatest typewriter company.

Here are the top keys to successful change management:

1. Engagement, engagement, engagement.  Identify your stakeholders (there are almost certainly more than you think) and get them involved in the process.  Get input.  Listen.  Surveys are a great mechanism but make sure that you use more personal techniques as well (such as individual and small group meetings).
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate.  Make sure that people understand what's happening, why it's happening, the end state, the goals, and the benefits.  Even if people don't absorb all of the information, make sure that it's available.
3. Have a vision for where you're going and how things will be better when you will arrive.  Think in terms of benefits for the stakeholders.  If people perceive that things will be harder for them, they may not care that the business will improve and they certainly won't care that you'll get a promotion.
4. Have a plan.  Or the skeptics (and there always are some) will skewer you.  How will this change come about?  Provide the tools (processes, tools/systems, etc.) that people will need to be successful after the change.
5. Achieve small wins.  Show progress or people will lose faith.
6. Find and develop advocates.  You can't do it alone.  Find people--especially those who are influential--to be on your side.  (Remember that an organization's leaders are not necessarily those who are in management).
7. Address concerns and resistance directly.  Again, change is difficult for many.  Don't pretend that resistance doesn't exist (it may not be expressed--which is even worse).
8. Have "thick skin".  No matter how hard you work at all of the above, some people will complain and then complain some more.  Listen openly; consider input thoughtfully; but don't give in unless it's the right thing to do.
9. Choose your battles.  Following #8, be prepared to give in on some things that are not that important.  That will give you the ability to win the battles that are essential.
10. Be ridiculously persistent.  It will seem illogical that it's so hard to get things changed.  But that's reality.  You'll encounter obstacles that you didn't consider.  Keep pushing and find a way around them.

Remember that change is a process (not an event), so revisit all of these throughout.

What do you think?  Did I miss any?  What's your #11?

Finally, for inspiration:  "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."  (George Bernard Shaw)  Change is hard--go persist in making the unreasonable the new reality!