Leading Change in a Company That’s Historically Bad At It
If you are driving major change at a organization, you are likely stepping into some track record of failure. Until you acknowledge the failures your employees have suffered, they won’t believe that committing to change again will be worth it. To rebuild their resilience and win back their confidence, you’ll need to take three important steps at the outset of your initiative. First, acknowledge the pain of the past by apologizing for previous failures. Too many leaders charge ahead, trying to inspire people as though their effort is the first. Without realizing it, they are erasing the very real frustrations of their employees. Second, ground your plan in evidence. Whatever the case for past failures, come back to your team with a detailed diagnosis of what went wrong before and how you will avoid those problems this time. Finally, regularly check in with employees to see if they have any concerns, or if your plan might be falling into traps they are familiar with from past experience.
Organizational change was once a seasonal experience. But today, managing continual disruption is a skill required of most leaders. Change management is the new management, which makes doing it effectively that much more difficult.
Despite our extensive knowledge on the topic, failure rates among organizational change efforts remain high. Most reliable research estimates that 50%–70% of initiatives fall short, largely focusing on change implementation as the culprit. Common obstacles that organizations face include failure to sustain the effort over the long term, competing priorities, and under-resourcing. But some seeds of failure are sewn long before change is implemented — and some initiatives are set up to fail the moment they are conceived.
An executive client I’ve worked with for years — let’s call him Craig — offers an example. Craig left his last job to overhaul an outdated operations system at another company. A seasoned turnaround expert, he did a comprehensive assessment to understand major issues and found that, in the previous five years, two different leaders had launched 11 attempts to transform the system. This included two reorgs, one plant upgrade, and three technology platforms, all of which failed to realize meaningful results. Craig was the first operations leader to enter from outside the organization, so he saw this as an exciting challenge and formed a plan for execution. But although he was confident in his historically successful approach, his team’s cynical and indifferent reaction gave him pause.
Change fatigue, the exhaustion that comes from excessive change, is one of the most common reasons for failure. It typically occurs when multiple changes are implemented at once and fail simultaneously as a result. Craig wasn’t part of his company’s past shortcomings, but his team’s resilience was still depleted when he needed it most.
This scenario is not uncommon. If you are driving major change at any organization, you are likely stepping into a track record of failure. Until you acknowledge the failures your employees have suffered through, they won’t believe that committing to change again will be worth it. To rebuild their resilience and win back their confidence, you’ll need to take three important steps at the outset of your initiative.
Acknowledge the pain of the past. Nobody understands the difficulty of change efforts more than those who’ve watched them fail before. But too many leaders charge ahead, trying to inspire people as though their approach is the first or is better, without acknowledging the pain of the past. Without realizing it, they are erasing the very real frustrations of their employees.
The reality is that every organization has some track record of failure. That’s why it’s better to start with the assumption that people don’t trust your intentions or approach and are expecting you to fail as well. When Craig asked for my advice, I told him he needed to apologize for all of the past efforts his team had endured. Initially, he was defensive. Because the failures had preceded him, he feared his words would be received as disingenuous and disheartening. But, in fact, they were received as refreshingly honest.
He said to his team, “I know the last five years have been costly. By my calculations, you’ve spent tens of millions of dollars, invested countless hours and emotional commitment, and you’ve told me you have little to show for it. Now I come along announcing yet another attempt. If I were you, I’d be rolling my eyes too. I want you to know how sorry I am for all you’ve sacrificed in exchange for broken promises of change. I haven’t earned the right to ask you to try again, but if you’ll hear me out, I’d like to tell you why I believe this time could be different.”
Craig’s team was willing to suspend disbelief long enough for him to explain his approach, which included closely monitoring progress and being fully transparent along the way.
Ground your plan in evidence. Most leaders begin their change efforts with some degree of organizational assessment. Knowing that past efforts failed is helpful, but knowing why they failed can strengthen your credibility. Every organization has ways it naturally undermines change, and diagnosing the saboteurs can help you avert them. It could be a culture of fear or risk aversion. It could be a heavily layered hierarchical structure that makes cascading change difficult. It could be inflexible reward structures that disincentive new behavior. It could be that the strategy of the organization is too disconnected from the change to make it seem relevant.
One of the most common problems is the fragmentation of uncoordinated changes. One organization I worked with was overhauling performance management in HR, implementing a cloud-based platform in IT, restructuring the sales department, and launching two new products in the marketing department all in the same year, and all in an attempt to aggressively grow. Though each effort could have contributed to this growth, all of them fell short because they were fundamentally disconnected. The lack of integration undermined their shared impact.
Whatever the case for past failures, it is important that you come back to your team with a detailed diagnosis of what went wrong. Craig analyzed how each of the past efforts at his company was conceived, by whom, how far into the initiative signs of failure began to show, and what prevented the organization from correcting course. He incorporated the insights into his plan to demonstrate how he would avoid repeating those mistakes. His no-nonsense forthrightness helped disarm some of the team’s cynicism. Honestly naming the reasons they had failed actually increased people’s hope of succeeding with Craig’s approach.
Regularly ask how your plan for change feels different from past efforts. Many leaders treat major change like a political campaign. They go on road shows touting the benefits of the change, sharing why it’s important for people to commit, and thanking everyone for working hard. They often make a special point of telling people why the change will succeed, proclaiming things like, “It’s our great people that will make this work,” while inferring their brilliant idea is the true driver of success. Leaders who want to avoid repeating past failures don’t tell anyone anything. They ask people to tell them if and how their plan for change feels different in an attempt to learn. Then they use those insights to stay on track.
During the first six months of his initiative, Craig visited every team across the operations department to check on progress. He asked, “How do you feel this change is different from past efforts?” and “Are there any ways it feels familiar that concern you?” By asking team members to reflect on past efforts, Craig helped his entire department learn about the change and about themselves. This enabled them to sustain commitment over time.
Organizational change is one of today’s most difficult leadership challenges. Your organization undoubtedly has past failures, some of which may even be yours. That’s all the more reason for you to take responsibility for, and learn from, them. Begin your next change effort with an apology for past failures, whether they are yours or not, and then use the steps above to avoid repeating them.
Ron Carucci is co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change for their organizations, leaders, and industries. He is the best-selling author of eight books, including the recent Amazon #1 Rising to Power. Connect with him on Twitter at @RonCarucci; download his free e-book on Leading Transformation.
Leading Change in a Company That’s Historically Bad At It
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