Have you understood that change isn’t a challenge but a competitive advantage?
Year after year organizations fall into the same traps. Something new appears, many don’t believe in it, some fall and someone else takes over the world. Most organizations are in the backseat and are forced to respond to changes that they cannot control or manage. Therefore, the first step is also the most important one in Change Leadership; To master Reactive Change.
Managers are constantly surprised by employees reactions when presenting change initiatives. Small decisions become big issues. Simple changes become complex. The positive initiatives becomes negative. It all comes down to fears, motivators and emotional states. But there are successful ways to get a different result.
When the initiatives comes from below. When your employees wants to be the frontrunners and the leadership allows creativity and innovative behavior. When your business intelligence is more about checking who’s following you instead of who to follow. And when someone in your organization are having trouble keeping up, the team makes sure they get back onboard. When your culture possesses Proactive Change.
According to research app. 70% of all change initiatives fail. It´s the same number as failed attempts to reach the top of Mount Everest. Research also shows that two thirds of the failed initiatives are connected to culture, attitudes and behaviors. People simply choose not to adapt due to lack of understanding why, emotional obstacles and lack of trust in managers and management. The productivity losses are massive.
Stop wasting time on making plans that are dependent on prerequisites you can’t control. Being successful in leading change is not about having all the answers. It’s more about knowing what to do when you don’t have them.
During the last 10 years we have followed hundreds of organizations through different changes and unfortunately seen similar patterns with most of them. Four years ago we decided to start training people in a completely different way then before. With focus on emotions, attitudes, behavior and culture with an “inside-out” perspective together with practical training we have seen radical changes in peoples way of handling change.