Every transformation deck I have ever opened has a vision statement on slide three. Most of them are forgettable inside a week. By the time the program is six months in, the people closest to the work could not paraphrase the vision if you asked them. The slide still gets shown. It just no longer […]
In their recent research report, 10 Best Practices in Organizational Change for Project Managers (August 29, 2011), Gartner focuses on the fact that project and program managers struggle with coordinating effective, organizational change practices. This struggle is compounded by an increasing rate of structural change from activities such as mergers and reorganizations, which is making change […]
Marketing guru and best-selling author Seth Godin recently published a blog post about the warning signs of defending the status quo. When confronted with new ideas, these “defenders” are adept at emphasizing the negative aspects of change and highlighting the positive aspects of the current state. For example they: Highlight the pain to a few […]
We often think of change as something that happens to other people. But, how effective are you personally at dealing with change? The people appointed to lead organizational change efforts sometimes have a skewed perception of their own ability to handle change. Below are a few simple principles that you can employ to enhance your […]
Company leaders often ask us about common pitfalls associated with organizational change initiatives and how they can avoid them. The term “pitfall,” defined as a hidden danger in the form of a covered pit used as a trap, implies a sudden occurrence. We prefer the term quagmire which more accurately describes what actually occurs in […]
A few months ago I sat in two meetings on the same day at the same company. The first was an executive working session on a new AI initiative. The leaders in the room were sincere, optimistic, and operating from genuinely good intentions. They believed the rollout would unlock capacity for higher-value work, reduce drudgery, […]
Establishing a sense of urgency at all levels of the organization is a necessary first step in gaining the cooperation required to drive a significant change effort. Half of the companies that fail to affect needed change make their mistakes at the very beginning by not creating an appropriate sense of urgency. The approach most […]
Our last article discussed how to conduct effective stakeholder interviews for the purpose of developing your organizational change strategy. This week we address a second important method of gathering qualitative data from stakeholders: focus groups. Focus groups are an interactive way to get cross-functional perspectives on a single issue and can prove very helpful during […]
Jesse Jacoby
