You've heard the story, and could even write the book - a great plan, a careful strategy, failsafe implementations that everyone is sure to buy into... and nothing happens.
Why? What is stopping these innovations from gaining traction in the workplace?
After all, you know they make sense, and in an ideal world everyone would benefit from them. What's not to like? What on earth went wrong?
In the course of delivering Leadership programmes, I like to find great videos that illustrate key points. Few have been as succinct - and successful at getting the point across - as Campbell McPherson's Why Change Fails. A brilliantly constructed five-minute presentation brings 8 key reasons change initiatives fall down into dangerously clear perspective. I say dangerously, because knowing and doing are not the same things, and sometimes the more you know, the more likely you are to feel the fear.
Taking the lead from this video, you have to go ahead and do it anyway, with measured intent and a firm resolve to encompass all the components of success in a logical, reasoned outline without pinning a deadline on what people will achieve. Everyone works at their own pace with change; forerunners can get impatient while back-markers become demoralised. Bringing a culture into alignment is no ready-meal-style neatly-packaged delivery, it's a messy affair of cause and effect which a creative leadership team will guide and encourage without pushing it over the cliff.
I've attached a transcript of the video here too, saving you the trouble of tracing those reasons back from the reel. I'm sure Campbell won't mind me reproducing his production, on the understanding that all rights are reserved by him as originator. Without earning a bean from promoting his video, I can't recommend it highly enough - this could be all you need to get yourself and your team ahead of the exponential curve and out from under the 80-odd% of great change strategies that never see the light of day.
