Why Is Organizational Change So Hard?

Consider this new research from Michael T. Kanazawa at Dissero Partners:

• According to a summary of over 40 research studies on change, the success rate of strategy execution and corporate change programs is 33%.
• At the same time, a Conference Board survey of over 600 global CEOs revealed that the top two challenges they see are:

1. Generating consistent revenue growth, and
2. Strategy execution

This translates to weak performance on the top executive priority, a situation that needs to change. Because so many of these programs fail, some executives and managers start to believe the old saying that “people hate change” must be true. That is not true. In fact, employment surveys reveal that the top reason good employees leave companies is over a lack of new opportunities and boredom with stagnant, never-changing, dead-end jobs.

Other observations from the research:

• People don’t hate change; they hate corporate change programs.
• Think about this… is your goal to get the most out of people or the best out of people?
  You typically can’t get both.
• There is no such thing as "buy-in." When people are engaged up front and are a part of generating the tactical plans, there is no need to get “buy-in” at any point. The ideas are already theirs.
• Leaders who learn to share their power and control enable others to reach their full potential and effectively unleash organizational power.

BOTTOMLINE: "Consider one mindset shift that can unlock it all for you. If you believe that people hate change and that it is your job to change them, they will hate it. If you believe that people thrive on change and that your job is to unleash it, you will tap into a limitless source of ingenuity, energy and drive that will allow you to consistently take your big ideas into big results."

Download the complete PDF here, at ChangeThis.