To dramatically increase the productivity of your business more than often significant change will occur. The key variables of change are people, tasks, structure and technology. People are critical to making or breaking any change initiative.
Letting Go >>>>>>>> | Neutral >>>>>>>>>> | New | |
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Emotions |
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Questions to be answered | What is going to change for me? | What will I carry forward? | What is our identity? |
What is ending for everyone? | How do I feel? | What is our purpose? | |
How can we mark the ending? | Who and what can help me? | Where do I fit in? | |
What should we celebrate? |
Strong leadership, careful planning and effective implementation are needed to introduce change. The following steps should be undertaken when introducing change:
Steps | Actions |
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Think it through first |
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Create a common vision and define the changes |
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Communicate |
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Address peoples concerns |
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Present a clear action plan |
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Create a climate of certainty |
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Build momentum |
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Monitor progress |
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Follow up |
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You need majority support for a change process to be successful. When something new is introduced around 10% of an organisation are likely to be early adopters who would like to try something new, have been waiting for change and will actively support it. At the other end of the distribution curve, around 10% of an organisation may be laggards who may actively resist change. Sitting in the middle are 80% of employees who are (fast to slow) followers, who will "wait and see" before actively supporting the new changes.
The job of leadership is to focus on getting the 80% of "fence sitters" to become active supporters. The steps and actions detailed above help to do this. The process may be accelerated by identifying and involving "key people" and informal "opinion leaders", who are looked up to and bring their followers along.
Leaders have sources of legitimate, coercive, reward, expertise and referent power. Good leaders use these sources of formal and informal power to influence, motivate and get things done.
Some motivational factors are maintenance factors that must be kept at a satisfactory level to avoid de-motivating employees. Other motivational factors can create inner desire and include different social needs for affiliation, power or achievement.
Maintenance Factors | Motivational Factors |
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By far the quickest, simplest and best motivator is to frequently thank people for their successful performance and desired behaviour, using the BET technique.
Behaviour |
Describe what you have observed the person do |
Effect |
Explain the positive effects of their behaviour for the organisation, others, you and them |
Thank |
Thank them!!! (To encourage and motivate them to continue the positive behaviour) |
The effectiveness of this simple act of saying "thank you", properly and frequently, is often
A number of common reasons have been found for failed change initiatives, these include:
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