Do you want to increase your success in leading organizational change? In my 30+ years of assisting companies with change, I have observed leaders engaging in the following 10 behaviors that often doom their change efforts:
Disregard their company culture entirely and mandate change.
Mandating change almost never works. Instead, think about your organizational culture and what parts of it create the most engagement. Link your change efforts to the most inspirational aspects of the culture. For example, do people value collaboration? Then put together a change strategy that incorporates lots of it!
Delegate responsibility for the change to the Human Resources department.
Of course the HR department has a valuable role to play in carrying out successful change. However, they can’t do it alone and they shouldn’t own it. People throughout the organization will look to the leaders for inspiration and direction. Leaders must own it.
Make consultants accountable for the success of the change efforts.
First, figure out if you really need a consultant before you rush to hire one. Now, I’m not arguing against consultants since I am one. However I know that I cannot be responsible for the outcomes of the change efforts. What the organization needs is ownership from the top. Consultants can bring expertise to the table to help the leaders, but consultants cannot lead the change.
Engage consultants to assist and ignore any advice that they offer.
If you do decide to hire consultants, get your money’s worth. Listen to them. Don’t ignore their advice because of your own preconceived opinions or discomfort because they are suggesting actions that you have not taken before.
Allow the grapevine to serve as the primary vehicle for communications.
Never create a communication void and allow the grapevine to fill it. Change requires constant communications, and some of it should be personal, and face-to-face, if possible. When leaders tell me that they don’t have to communicate anymore because they sent out a message once or twice, I know that the change is unlikely to succeed.
Measure progress by assuming that no news is good news.
From time to time leaders have told me that they assume the change is going well because they haven’t heard anything to the contrary. Keep in mind that many if not most employees do not like to communicate bad news to their boss. Therefore, do not assume that no news means good news. It could mean that the grapevine has taken over!
Allow their favorite employees to do things the old way if it suits them better.
Be consistent! If the change requires new and different behaviors, the expectations must apply to everyone – including you!
Send mixed messages about the change by engaging in inconsistent actions.
Actions really do speak louder than words. Check your own behaviors frequently in order to assess whether you are actually living up to the expectations that you have communicated to everyone else.
Ask for input from others and then ignore it.
In a culture where employees want to be heard, asking for their input is crucial. And really, does anyone have an organizational culture where employees don’t care if they are heard? Decide where their input will be most appropriate. You may not want to ask them whether they support the change if you have already decided to make it. However, perhaps you can get their input on how to implement it. You don’t have to do everything that they want or ask. Nonetheless, if you are a wise leader, you will acknowledge their points of view. And if you decide to follow a different direction, explain why.
Position the change as a program rather than a process.
Never view change as a program. It is always a process and it takes time and perseverance. If people in your organization express anxiety about the change or question whether it is a good idea, this doesn’t mean that they are resisting the change, necessarily. It is normal for people to experience some concerns as part of the process of changing. For more information on the difference between concern and resistance, listen to my short presentation on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loUBqs97Q30
How many of these mistakes have you made? If you want to increase your success in leading organizational change, think through how you will avoid these fatal mistakes by planning in advance and checking yourself periodically throughout the change process.
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