The CHANGE Success Factors

Successful change-management efforts hinge on four key factors:

a) committed leadership (that means you),

b) a compelling business case for change (which you probably have, but haven't communicated clearly enough or often enough),

c) embedding change into everyone's work, and

d) involving respected employees who can influence others.

As you read this article, take a quick temperature check to see whether your current change initiative is well-baked. It will help you gauge progress toward making your initiative a win and show you where you're falling short. Master these success factors and you'll be well on your way to becoming a master of change.

Factor #1: Active, Committed Leadership

Because employees naturally look to their leaders for direction and listen to what they say, they're sensitive to their superiors' unspoken and understated messages.

For example, if you show up for a meeting and don't seem engaged, your team will sense your apathy. If you don't show enthusiasm for a strategy or project, the team members won't either. They'll look at their own long to-do lists and put the project in the low priority bucket. Can you blame them? If you don't commit, why should they?

There are lots of reasons why you might half-heartedly commit to a plan. More than half of IT executives polled by CIO in 2007 reported being "challenged by an overwhelming backlog of requests and projects" and bemoan the "shortage of time for strategic thinking and planning." So when the heat is on, leaders often choose priorities based on which customer yells the loudest or which project catches the CEO's attention.

The first imperative, then, is to prioritize your change effort. Take the time to look at upcoming initiatives and evaluate their importance against the mission and strategies of the organization. If the initiative under consideration is truly important to the success of the organization, to the leadership team and to you, then make the commitment.

Just like any obligation, tying your knot to a change effort can bring moments of frustration and regret. That's why strategizing and planning up front is critical. That way, when you face one of those inevitable moments of dismay, you'll be firm enough in your resolve to find a way through the challenges and continue to lead the change.

Factor #2: A Clear, Compelling Business Case for Change

Here's a hypothetical question: Which of the following would better motivate you to rearrange your entire schedule for the day?

(A) Your boss says, "Our most important client is coming in from France and we need you at the meeting," or

(B) your boss says, "We need you to look into software as a service; it may help improve our bottom line."

You're probably drawn to A. It's clear, precise, significant and immediate.

Too often, leaders introduce the rationale for their change efforts in murky terms like, "It will help improve our bottom line" and then expect employees to jump to action. Why should they? They don't understand exactly what the project is, how it will help or how it will affect their work.

Workers are more likely to change when the business case is obvious, specific and urgent. You and your implementation team must be able to consistently and compellingly communicate the rationale behind the initiative and the consequences of not changing. Here's an example of a compelling business case:

If the company doesn't upgrade to the new system, it won't be able to process more than 5,000 new customers. And if the company can't keep growing its customer base, we won't be able to keep our doors open.

That's pretty clear: Corporate growth is at stake, and the consequences of not changing will hit the wallets of employees. Business cases like this one get attention.

Not all changes provide such an easily apparent business case. To identify your business case, start by rooting through superficial reasons to get to the real substance of the change. For example, a superficial reason for upgrading to a new system might be because the company has a relationship with the vendor or because "the competition is doing it."

Delving deeper leads you to more meaningful motivations, such as the upgrade leading to customer service improvements that run circles around the competitors' customer service efforts.

Once you've identified the business case, the next step is to anticipate how the change will affect individuals in the organization. Perhaps the change will mean more paperwork, better project execution or fewer irate customers. Helping employees understand these impacts aids them in preparing for change. It also helps you understand how hard you'll need to work and how visible you'll need to be during the process.

For example, if a project will cause significant workflow disruptions or will be perceived as busywork, you'll need to spend more time talking about the business case with employees and setting expectations.

Factor #3: Focus on Embedded Change, Not Programmatic Change

Everyone has a story about a flavor-of-the-month management fad that was abandoned before completion. Going through fire drills for projects that only seem predicated on some business trend the CEO read in an airline magazine is frustrating and draining for employees. Unfortunately, employees have enough negative experiences with aborted initiatives to be cautious when leaders hype a new change.

To avoid the flavor-of-the-month syndrome, your crystal-clear message has to underlie all communications, and you have to work to embed the change into the fabric of the organization.

One way to embed change is by creating goals that are linked to the success of your initiative. Start by making sure that the change supports one of the company's strategic imperatives. (If it doesn't, go back and confirm priorities and commitment with the executive team before your launch.)

Next, identify high-level goals for each business unit supporting the change. From there, continue setting goals until every affected division and department has at least one strategic goal associated with the initiative.

The final step is to embed the initiative in individual employees' work by setting performance goals tied to the initiative. Establish clear objectives on performance reviews that explain what employees need to do to help their departments achieve success.

For example, as part of a continuous improvement strategy, employees may work to "integrate the new CMM processes and procedures into all project work by the end of the year" or participate in the billing redesign working group as a department subject matter expert."

Once you've established individual, departmental and divisional goals, don't forget about them. Too often, goals become part of a musty document that only gets dusted off at the end of Q4. Best-practice companies report regularly (monthly or quarterly) on progress. Critical milestones can be celebrated in order to sustain momentum and enthusiasm during long-term initiatives.

Factor #4: Employee Participation

Remember when you first learned to ride a two-wheeled bike? It took some work to find your balance. You wiped out a few times and scraped some knees. But you did it: You figured out how to steer, brake and fly like the wind down a hill. When you did, you felt exhilarated, proud of yourself and pleased with your accomplishment.

Now compare that experience with how change often works in organizations. Boss A says to Employee B, "Here's the new process. Now go do it." Employee B is then expected to implement.

It's a one-sided conversation that takes ownership away from the people who have to make the change happen. There's little opportunity for Employee B to experience the satisfaction of learning as you did when riding your bike: They don't get to experiment (What if I give it a running start? Maybe I'll fall down less frequently.), refine a process (This works better if I don't brake suddenly.) or experience the thrill of accomplishment (Wow! I figured out how to turn!).

The keyword is : GET THEM INVOLVED !