McKinsey Consulting Group reports that 70% of all change management efforts do not meet their intended outcomes, primarily due to employee resistance and a lack of management support. When people genuinely invest in change, it is 30% more likely to be successful. To be part of the successful 30% starts right at the beginning.
The senior leadership team are confined to their offices and meeting rooms, spending hours both individually and collectively debating the strategic direction of the business: what needs to change, what the longer-term time horizon of the company is, the vision, the aspirational goals, the culture, the systems required to execute it, and the people needed to deliver it. You name it; the ‘change’ is discussed and debated from every angle.
After discussing, debating, and building the business case for change, they have personally (consciously or unconsciously) navigated the stages of the change curve and thoroughly examined the ‘WHY we need to change.’
Now, here is their fatal mistake.
When they communicate ‘the change programme’ with their people, the senior leaders have shifted their mindset. They’re moving forward into execution mode, focused on the WHAT and the HOW. This is happening at the precise moment when they begin engaging with their people, who are hearing all this for the first time. They are only at the beginning of their change curve.
You can see how this scenario could unfold.
Leaders generally do a poor job of mobilising commitment because they haven’t allowed the same discussions or buy-in time that their people need. They’re starting to feel resistance, but they’re not sure why, because in their minds, it’s now a done deal. The options have been weighed, and critical decisions have been made. Execution mode is a go!
Little attention is paid to mapping the transition with their people from the current reality to the desired end state, effectively bringing their people along on the journey. Instead, they jump straight into implementation and expect to realise the benefits. The levels of resistance from their people have increased another notch.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can develop a consistent, repeatable approach to change so that you can take your people on the journey.
In the workplace, most change scenarios stem from a response to a threat or a movement toward an opportunity, whether internal or external. Regardless of the trigger, the reason for the change must be clearly articulated to inspire others to support the initiative.
While it might seem obvious to the CEO, COO, or IT manager why the change needs to happen, this must be communicated clearly so that your people—those individuals who are usually most removed from the decision-making process but most impacted by the change—can understand it.
A critical part of the leadership team’s role is that of Chief Storyteller, connecting your people with the ‘change’ story and the vision and purpose of the business. Express the future in a way that creates a positive picture of what the change will look like. You want your people to understand how they will act differently when the change is implemented.
By doing so, you instil meaning into what they will do and how they will approach it, enabling them to discover compelling reasons to feel inspired, energised, and motivated to produce their best work.
Commitment to change starts with building and communicating a compelling reason why (Back to points #1 & #2).
You can’t motivate someone to do something they don’t want to do. Yes, you can exert influence, pressure, or power, but to truly commit, they must want to take action. After all, it’s all about the WIFM factor – what’s in it for me?
Let me share the WHY Triangle with you: the WHY at the base, the WHAT on the left side, and the HOW on the right.
Now, draw a horizontal line two-thirds of the way up your triangle, placing the word ‘logic’ above the line and ’emotion’ below it. Emotion is far more important than logic. When we communicate change, we must appeal to emotions.
I like to think of it as a pendulum swinging from side to side—logic on one side and emotion on the other. When explaining a particular point, use facts and figures to trigger logical responses, then tell a story or paint a picture to engage emotions. You can also reverse the process: begin with a story and then explain the logic, or present the facts and figures.
The point is simply this: Emotion drives motion, prompting individuals to take action.
This is all about mapping your current position, your desired destination, and the transitional checkpoints in between. Let me use a simple analogy to illustrate this.
You’re currently on the London Underground at South Kensington and wish to travel to King’s Cross. You have several routes and options to reach King’s Cross, so your first decision is which route is best for you. Factors to consider include time and speed of arrival, convenience (number of changes), preferred routes, and others’ opinions or experiences.
You take the Piccadilly line, a direct route with eight stops to King’s Cross. While on the tube, you constantly check each stop as you approach the station (it’s a habit we all do!) and listen to the conductor as they announce the next station. These check-ins reassure you that you are on the right train to King’s Cross, and happily, without any surprises, you arrive at your destination.
Of course, implementing a new IT platform is fundamentally more challenging than navigating the tube across London (maybe not if it’s rush hour!). Still, the point remains the same: Know your beginning, know your end, understand and map out your route, and create checks and measures to monitor your progress along the way.
Continuously reiterating the business case and vision will be necessary. This step centres on communication—communicate, communicate, and communicate some more. The WHY, the WHAT, and the HOW of your change project should be repeated often. Research shows that the average person needs to hear a message seven times before taking action. It takes seven reiterations for the message to sink in. Repetition is your ally.
Implementing change isn’t enough; the challenge lies in continuously driving forward, shifting old mindsets and behaviours in favour of new ones, replacing outdated methods with improved practices, and keeping the vision for change alive. Prepare yourself and your team for success, and confront the reality that change is a constant.
