major new initiatives failed or went off track.
Making a compelling case forchange seems to be the biggest thingyou can do to build support and commitment for a new initiative, and yet, it is the most overlooked task in the life of many changes.
Mistake 2: underestimate the potential power of employee (and management) engagement
Many changes in organizations get inflicted on people. Managers and staff are told that a crisis is at hand (or a great opportunity that must be seized immediately or it will disappear). They are told what the organization will do to meet this threat or opportunity. When it will start. Goals and bench- marks. And what’s expected of them.
There’s hardly a place for anyone to influence any part of the change, from the idea itself to developing plans.
This does work on occasion, but at great cost. The Gallup organi- zation has done extensive research into employee engagement. Here is what they say: “In average organizations, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is 1.5:1. In world-class organizations, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is near 8:1. . . . Actively dis- engaged employees erode an organization’s bottom line while breaking the spirits of colleagues in the process. Within the U.S. workforce, Gal- lup estimates this cost to be more than $300 billion in lost productivity alone.”4)
Organizations give lip service to engagement, but few know what it takes to get the 8:1 ratio that world-class organizations achieve.
Mistake 3: Fail to appreciate the power of fear
Fear of change is deeply personal. The thought of a big change can evoke pictures of relocations or downsizing. People worry that they may be fired. They worry about their families and their careers.
Personal fear trumps the organization’s need to change. When fears are triggered, humans’ ability to take in information goes down. In other words, people can’t hear what we’re talking about even if they try. Fear does that to people.
Some organizations trot out research that suggests that a certain percentage of people are early adopters of new things and others are late